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A 


C  LIBRARY 

UNlVeRSITY  OP 
CALIPORNIA 

I       SAN  DIEGO      j 


THE  ONlVfRSlTY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 
LA  JOLLA,  CALIFORNIA 


S A 


-4 r-^l-t- 


OUR    BTJRDElSr 


OUR    STRENGTH; 


OB,  A  COMPREHENSIVE  AND  POPUIAB  EXAMINATION  OF  THE 


gcbts  imtr  |Us0uras  of  0ur  Cauntri), 


PRESENT  AND  PROSPECTIVE. 


^^.  "WEIjIjS,  ./^.  ivr. 


'AS  THY  DAYS  SO  SHALL  THY  STRENGTH  BE. 


TllOY,  N.  Y.  : 


Y()UN(^    &    BENSON,    BOOKSELLERS, 
8  &  9  1st  Street,  and  21G  Kivek  Stricei-. 

1864. 


),jT 


OUR    BURDEN    AND    OUR    STRENGTH, 

OR   A 

COMPREHENSIVE  AND  POPULAR  EXAMINATION 

OF    THE 

DEBT  AND  KESOURCES  OF  OUR  COUNTRY, 

PRESENT  AND  PROSPECTIVE. 


Can  we  pay  our  present  and  prospective  National  Debt,  oi 
even  the  interest  upon  it  ?  Can  we  bear  without  impoverish- 
ment as  a  people,  the  burden  of  our  present  or  future  necessary 
taxation  ?  These  are  questions  which  the  continuance  of  the 
war  and  the  exigencies  of  the  times  continually  call  up  in  the 
hearts,  if  they  do  not  prompt  to  utterance  upon  the  lips,  of  mul- 
titudes of  our  citizens. 

All  are  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  general  facts  respecting 
the  increase  of  the  population  of  our  country  and  its  wondrous 
development  in  wealth  and  resources  ;  but  few  have  been  enabled 
to  bring  the  subject  so  definitely  and  clearly  before  them  as  to 
draw  from  it  that  trust  and  encouragement  for  the  future,  which 
it  is  certainly  capable  of  affording.  Recognizing  this  fact,  it  has 
occurred  to  the  writer  that  good  and  timely  service  might  now  be 
rendered  to  the  country,  by  instituting  a  large  and  accurate  in- 
quiry concerning  our  national  ability — present  and  prospective — 
to  pay  our  maximum  future  debt,  interest  and  j^^'incij^al ;  and 
rising  from  this  study,  with  the  highest  degree  of  encouragement, 
he  begs  leave  to  call  the  attention  of  his  fellow-citizens  to  the 


statistics  wliich  he  lias  been  enabled  to  collect ;  hoping  thereby, 
that  the  faith  they  feel  in  our  ultimate  and  triumphant  success, 
may  be  made  the  stronger  ;  that  anxiety  and  fear  may  be,  in  a 
degree,  banished  from  their  hearts  ;  and  by  means  of  a  courage 
justly  entertained,  and  duties  consequently  well  performed,  they 
may  aid  in  reducing  the  fluctuations  of  the  currency  ;  may  sus- 
tain the  laborer  and  the  capitalist  in  their  right  relations  ;  may 
help  to  give  the  dollar  its  just  value  ;  to  labor  its  full  reward  ; 
and  by  seeing  that  the  production  of  national  wealth  is  still  ad- 
vancing with  giant  strides,  and  that  the  war  does  not  and  cannot 
retard  its  progress,  they  may  be  further  assured  that  the  credit 
and  honor  of  the  country  are  to  be  amply  and  perfectly  sus- 
tained. 

The  discussion  of  the  topics  involved  in  such  an  inquiry,  must, 
of  necessity,  be  mainly  statistical,  and  therefore  will  undoubtedly 
be  judged  by  some,  a  2>riori,  as  dry  and  uninteresting  ;  for  un- 
fortunately there  are  many  disciples,  in  all  countries,  of  the  old 
Pasha,  described  by  an  English  traveller,  who,  when  asked  to  lend 
his  authority  to  aid  in  the  collection  of  statistical  information, 
exclaimed,  "  Oh,  joy  of  my  liver,  I  have  been  sixty  years  in  this 
province,  and  twenty  years  governor  of  this  town,  but  never  yet 
have  I  inquired  as  to  the  number  of  tiles  on  the  houses,  nor  what 
kind  of  dirt  the  people  take  away  in  their  carts.  Mashallah  !  life 
is  short,  let  us  enjoy  its  blessings  and  ask  no  questions."  If  there 
are  any  sucb,  perchance,  among  our  readers,  to  them  we  shall 
offer  no  apology,  but  enter  at  once  upon  our  subject. 

Previous  to  1861,  the  United  States  stood  before  the  Avorld 
in  the  anomalous  position  of  a  great  nation,  with  substantially 
no  national  debt.  Having  since  conformed  in  this  respect  to 
the  usages  of  all  other  civilized  people,  it  is  desirable,  in  the 
outset  of  this  inquiiy,  to  compare  our  debt  and  its  distribution 
per  capita  with  the  national  debt  of  the  leading  nations  of 
Euroj)e.  For  this  comparison  we  assume  that  the  debt  of  the 
Federal  Government,  which  at  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  in 
June,  1^64,  was  about  $1,750,000,000,  will,  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  amount  to  $3,000,000,000  (three  thousand   millions),  an 


3 

amount  which,  with  proper  annual  taxation,  certainly  ou;2;ht  not 
to  be  exceeded.  The  various  figures  tabulated,  will  then  afford 
us  the  following  exhibit : 

Showing  the  present  and  2)rospectlve  dehf,  interest  and  population  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  present  debt,  interest  and  population  of  Great  Britain^  France,  Austria, 
Italy,  and  Holland. 


United  Loyal  States,  July,  1864 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  assumed  to  take 

place  in  18C5 ,. 

In  1870,  assuming  30  per  cent,  as  the  average 

decennial  increase  of  populationf 

Inl880,  do.  

In  1800,  do.  

In  1900,  do.  

Great  Britain,  March,  1803 

France,  1862 .. 

Austria,  1862 

Italy,  18C3 

Holland,  1863 


$1,750,000,000 

3,000,000,000 

3,000,000,000 
3,000,000,000 
3,000,000,000 
3,000,000.000 
3,915,000,000 
2,206,000,000 
1,263,000,000 
764,000,000 
424.500,000 


40,950,000 
53,235,000 
69,205,500 
89,964,150 
30,000,000 
37,000,000 
35,000,000 
22,000,000 
3,600,000 


$  75,000,000*  $72,92 


180  000,000   82.35 


180,000,000 
180,000,000 
180,000,000 
180,000,000 
127,564,000 
110,000,000 


12,244,000 


73.26 
56.34 
43.35 
33.34 

130  46 
59.65 
36.10 
34.73 

117.00 


I  c  d. 


$3.01 


4.381 

3.38 

2.60 

2.00 

425 

aoo 


3.40 


it  would  thus  appear  from  the  above  table  (the  figures  and  esti- 
mates of  which  are,  it  is  believed,  entirely  reliable)  that  assuming 
the  actual  national  debt  at  the  close  of  the  federal  fiscal  year, 
June,  1S64,  to  be  $1,750,000,000,  the  apportionment  of  debt  to 
each  individual  of  the  loyal  States  would  be  $72.92,  and  of  the 
annual  interest  $3.01.    If  we  assume  further,  that  the  war  termi- 


*0f  the  debt  of  the  Loyal  StUos,  July  1st,  1864,  as  ahove  given  an  amount  at  least  equal  to 
$500,000,000  (I'xistinp  in  the  form  of  currency)  is  not  chargeable  with  interest. 

■f  Sec  table  of  population  from  1790  to  1860.  which  follows. 

X  It  mn?t  be  borne  in  mind,  in  comparing  the  iiiteri'.st  accountof  the  debt  of  the  United  States  with 
that  of  Great  Brit  lin  and  the  other  Kuropean  stUes,  that  tho  rate  per  cent,  varies  greatly.  In  Great 
Britain  the  average  rate  of  interest  paid  on  tho  National  debt  does  not  cscoad  3}  per  cent.  In 
France  tlie  highest  rate  paid  is  41  per  cent,  while  much  of  the  French  debt  pays  a  rate  as  low 
as  3  per  cent 


nates  at  or  before  the  close  of  1865,  and  that  the  national  debt  has 
reached  at  that  period  the  sum  of  $3,000,000,000,  then  the  debt 
for  the  population  of  the  restored  Union,  will  average  $82.35  for 
each  individual,  and  the  annual  interest  $5.35.  Supposing  the 
debt  to  remain  the  same,  {i.  e.,  $3,000,000,000)  and  the  popula- 
tion io  increase  in  the  ratio  of  only  30  per  cent,  for  each  decennial 
period,  the  table  shows  the  rapid  decrease  of  individual  liability 
for  debt  and  interest  during  the  remaining  years  of  the  present 
century. 

The  average  increase  of  the  population  of  the  United  States 
prior  to  1860,  has  been  generally  assumed  by  statisticians,  to  have 
been  at  the  rate  of  three  per  cent,  per  annum.  That  the  actual 
increase  has,  however,  been  always  in  excess  of  this  ratio  will  be 
seen  by  the  table  on  page  5,  in  which  the  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  is  given  for  each  decennial  period  since 
the  establishment  of  the  Constitution,  and  also  the  increase  of  the 
population  of  Great  Britain  during  the  same  period  ;  of  France 
since  the  year  1801  ;  and  of  Prussia  since  1816. 


Showing  the  actual  and  percentage  increase  of  the  population  of  tJie  United  States  bp 
decades,  from  1790  to  18G0  ;  of  Great  Britain,  from  1793  to  1801 ;  of  France, 
from  1801  to  1861 ;  and  of  Prussia,  from  181G  to  1861. 


United  States 
Great  Britain, 
United  States. 
Great  Britain 

France 

United  States.. 
Great  Britain . 

Prussia 

United  States. 
Great  Britain. 

France 

Prussia 

United  States. 
Great  Britain. 

France 

Prussia 

United  States. 
Great  Britain. , 

France 

Prussia 

United  States.. 
Great  Britain. . 

France 

Prussia 

United  States . 
Great  Britain  . 

France 

Prussia 


Year. 

Population. 

Increase  per  cent,  by  Decades. 

1790 

3,929,827 

1793 

14,5(10,000 

ISOO 

5,305,937 

Increase  35.02  per  cent. 

ISOO 

16,000,000 

"         10.34    •'     " 

ISOl 

27,349,000 

ISIO 

7,239,814 

Increase  36.43  per  cent. 

1812 

18,000,000 

12.50    "     " 

1816 

10,319,000 

1S20 

9,638,191 

Increase  33.13  per  cent. 

1823 

21,193,438 

17.42    "      •' 

1821 

30,461,000 

1822 

11,664,000 

1830 

12,866,020 

Increase  33.49  per  cent. 

1833 

24.304,799 

14.60    "     " 

1831 

32,569,000 

1834 

13,038,000 

1840 

17,069,453 

Increase  32.67  per  cent. 

1841 

27,041,031 

"         11.35    "      " 

1S41 

34,230,000 

1840 

14,051,000 

1850 

23,191,876 

Increase  35.87  per  cent 

1850 

27,300,000 

"             .97    "      " 

1851 

35,283,000 

1819 

16,290,000 

1850 

31,446,080 

Increase  36.59  per  cent 

1861 

29,334,788 

.70    "      •' 

1861 

37,400,000 

1S61 

18,491,000 

SUMMARY. 

United  States,  increase  in  70  years 700.41  per  cent,   i  France,  increase  in  60  years 37.00  per  cent. 

Great  Britain,        •'       "63     "     102.30       "         |  Prussia,      "        "   45    "     ....79.00       •' 


Having  thus  presented  an  exhibit  of  our  present  and  prospec- 
tive national  liabilities  (in  comparison  with  those  of  the  leading 
nations  of  Europe),  it  is  proper  next  to  consider  the  subject  of 
our  national  assets,  and  to  inquire  as  to  what  are  the  resources 
on  which,  as  a  nation,  we  can  at  present  rely  to  meet  our  pecuni- 
ary indebtedness. 

The  officially  assessed  value  of  all  the  real  and  personal  prop- 
erty of  the  United  States  in  1860,  was  ^16,159,000,000.  Of 
this  amount  there  was  credited  to  the  loyal  States  and  territo- 
ties  the  sum  of  $10,957,448,956  ;  and  to  the  disloyal,  $5,202,- 
167,500.  Large  as  this  valuation  seems,  it  was,  nevertheless,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  best  statisticians,  considerably  below  a  true 
estimate  ;  inasmuch  as  real  property,  in  actual  practice,  is  rarely 
valued,  for  census  returns  and  for  purposes  of  assessment,  at 
more  than  tivo  tliirds  of  its  real  value,  while  large  amounts  of 
personal  property,  from  the  facility  with  which  it  is  concealed, 
escape  valuation  and  assessment  altogether.  The  increase  in  the 
value  of  real  and  personal  property  of  the  whole  United  States 
for  the  decennial  period  of  1850-60,  was  in  the  ratio  of  126.45 
per  cent.,  and  of  the  loyal  States  about  129  per  cent.  Sup- 
posing, for  the  sake  of  caution,  that  the  general  ratio  of  decen- 
nial increase  has  been  reduced  since  1860  from  126  to  100  per 
cent,  (the  reverse,  however,  being  probably  more  in  accordance 
with  the  truth)-,  then  the  value  of  all  the  real  and  personal 
property  of  the  loyal  States,  on  the  1st  of  July,  1864,  would 
be  about  $15,300,000,000. 

Supnosing  the  whole  of  the  property  to  be  distributed  equally 
per  capita  among  the  existing  population  of  24,900,000,  then  the 
apportionment  to  each  individual  would  be  $614.95. 

Supposing  the  rebellion  to  terminate  at  or  before  the  close  of 
1865,  the  population  of  the  restored  Union  (which  was  31,500,- 
000  in  I860)  to  be  34,000,000,  the  debt  $3,000,000,000,  and 
the  value  of  the  real  and  personal  property  of  the  seceding 
States  to  be  somewhat  less  than  that  prior  to  1860  (t.  e.,  $5,000,- 
000,000)^  then  the  value  of  tlie  real  and  personal  property  of 
the  whole  Union  would  be  about  $21,579,000,000,  the  average 


wealth  per  capita  $634.52  ;  the  average  dioht  per  cajnta  $82,  and 
the  average  annual  interest  per  capita  5.35.  Large  tliough 
these  proportions  may  seem,  yet  applying  them,  practically,  we 
should  not  consider  the  case  of  an  individual  as  particularly  one 
for  commiseration,  whose  debts  and  liabilities  were  less  than 
one  seventh  of  his  available  assets,  and  if  not  the  individual,  then 
certainly  not  the  country,  restored,  renewed,  reinvigorated,  as  it 
must  be  with  the  termination  of  the  rebellion  and  extinguish- 
ment of  Slavery. 

But  as  the  payment  of  our  national  debt  is  not  a  necessity  of 
the  present,  but  of  the  future,  it  is  pertinent  next  to  inquire  as 
to  what  arc  the  resources  which  the  future  will  be  able  to  com- 
mand for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  financial  burden  to  be  laid 
upon  it.  In  prosecuting  this  inquiry,  we  have  to  deal  with 
facts  and  figures  of  an  entirely  anomalous  character.  European 
history  furnishes  us  with  no  precedents  which  can  be  quoted  as 
either  examples  or  parallels.  In  fact,  there  is  nothing  in  all 
human  history,  to  which  the  regular  increase  of  the  national 
wealth  of  this  country,  since  the  establishment  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, can  be  likened.  It  is  the  most  wonderful  fact  of  our  won- 
derful national  history,  and  like  most  other  things  peculiarly 
American,  must  be  judged  of  by  our  own  standard  and  forecast- 
ed entirely  from  our  own  precedents.  Previous  to  the  year 
1840,  no  attempt  was  made  by  the  government  to  obtain,  by 
actual  investigation,  accurate  data  for  the  estimation  of  the 
value  of  the  real  and  personal  proj^erty  of  the  United  States,  or 
of  the  value  of  the  annual  product  of  the  agricultural,  manufac- 
turing and  commercial  operations  of  the  nation.  Estimates, 
however,  have  been  made  by  several  statisticians,  from  various 
available  data,  of  the  national  valuation  of  the  five  decennial 
periods  anterior  to  1849,  which  are  believed  to  be  approxi- 
mately accurate  ;  and  since  1840  we  have  had  official  valuations 
of  the  property  of  the  Union  at  the  end  of  each  census  decade. 
All  of  these  valuations  are  known  to  be  defective  in  various 
]iarticulars,  and  especially  prominent  among  these,  is  that  of 
under  valuation.  This,  although  a  matter  to  be  regretted,  has, 
however,  the  advantage  that  it  frees  an  exhibit  like  the  one  we 


8 


are  presenting,  from  all  suspicion  of  undue  overstatement.  The 
following  table  shows  the  population  of  the  country  and  its  de- 
cennial percentage  increase  ;  the  estimated  or  the  official  valua- 
tion of  the  "wealth  of  the  country  for  each  decennial  period  since 
1791  ;  the  increased  decennial  percentage  value  ;  the  average 
property  to  each  j)erson,  and  the  average  value  of  the  yearly 
national  product. 

Shoicing  the  population  and  wealth  of  the  United  States  hy  decades  from  1790  to 
1860 ;  popxdation  of  the  loyal  States  in  1864 ;  decennial  percentage  increase  of 
poptdation  J  decennial  percentage  increase  of  national  loealth  ;  average  property 
to  each  person  ;  average  animal  value  of  the  national  product. 


i 

i 

1 

S2 

»  a 
t>  p. 

3  I 

Q.2 

1=5 
S  S 

g  g 

.2 

II 

> 

< 

Average  annual 

value  of  the 
national  product. 

• 

1790 

3,929,827 

(estimated) 
$750,000,000 

$187,00 

$187,500,000 

1800 

5,305,937 

(estimated) 
1,072,000,000 

35.02  per  cent. 

43  per  cent. 

202.13 

300,000,000 

1810 

7,239,814 

(estimated) 
1,500,000,000 

36.43  percent. 

39  per  cent. 

207.20 

420,000,000 

1820 

9,638,191 

(estimatsd) 
1,832,000,000 

33.13  percent. 

25.4  per  cent. 

195.00 

5-26,960,000 

1830 

12,866,020 

(estimated) 
2,653,000,000 

33.49  per  cent. 

41  per  cent. 

206,00 

742,840,000 

1840 

17,069,453 

(official) 
3,764,000,000 

32.67  per  cent. 

41.7  per  cent. 

220.00 

1,063,135,000 

1850 

23,191,876 

(official) 
•7,135,780,000 

35,87  per  cent. 

89.6  per  cent. 

307.67 

2,004,000,000 

1860 

31,500,000 

(official) 
•16,159,000,000 

35.59  per  cent. 

126.42  per  cent. 

510.00 

3,804,000,000 

1864 

Loyal  States 
24,900,000 

(estimated) 
15,300,000,000 

(four    years 
(12  per  cent. 

(  four    years 
(    40  per  cent. 

614.95 

4,018,000,000 

1865 

Rest'd  Union 

ausiiracd 
34,000,000 

(estimated) 
21,574,000,000 

634.52 

5,713,500,000 

•  "  A  qucHtion  has  been  raised  in  come  quarters,  as  to  tlie  correctness  of  tliese  valuations  of  1S50  and 
1860,  in  embrncinK  in  the  valuation  of  IWjO  $101,000,000,  and  In  tlie  valuation  of  1860  $1,936,000,000, 
an  the  assessed  valiii!  of  slaves,  insistinR  th.it  bhick  men  are  persons  and  not  property,  and  should  be 
regarded,  like  other  men,  only  as  producers  and  consumers.  If  tliis  view  of  the  subject  .'■hoiild  be 
admitted,  the  valuiition  of  18.'j0  would  b.'  reduced  to  $6,174,780,000,  and  tliat  of  1800  to  $H,'."J:!,018,068, 
leaving  the  increase  in  the  d.'cade  $S,01«,8.'r>,S40. 

The  advance,  even  if  reduced  to  $8  0  l,S,8.'5.S10,  Is  dn  increase  of  property  over  the  valuation  of  1859 
of  130  percent,  while  the  iucreaso  of  population  in  the  same  decade  was  but  35.59.     As  the  value  of 


It  thus  appears  from  the  statistics  of  the  above  tahlo,  that 
while  the  population  of  the  United  States  increased  from  1850  to 
1860  in  the  large  ratio  of  35.5  per  cent,  the  wealth  of  the  nation 
increased  during  the  same  period  in  the  much  more  remarkable 
ratio  of  126.45  per  cent.  ;  or  from  $7,135,780,000  in  1850  to 
$16,159,616,000  in  1860  ;  or  at  the  rate  of  more  than  nine  hun- 
dred millions  ($902,383,584)  per  annum.  During  the  same  pe- 
riod, Great  Biitain  experienced  an  increase  of  less  than  one  per 
cent,  in  population,  and  an  estimated  increase  of  national  wealth 
amounting  to  about  thirty-three  per  cent.  But  startling  and  un- 
precedented as  has  been  this  extraordinary  increase  of  our  national 
wealth,  one  needs  but  a  cursory  glance  at  the  details  to  feel  satis- 
fied that  the  exhibit  is  every  way  reliable  and  correct. 

'Thus,  for  example,  the  wealth  of  the  State  of  Iowa  increased 
from  $23,714,000  in  1850,  to  $247,338,000  in  1860,  or  in  the  de- 
cennial ratio  of  nearly  943  per  cent.  California,  the  second  State 
in  respect  to  the  rapidity  of  growth  in  wealth  during  the  same 
decade,  increased  from  $22,161,000  in  1850,  to  $207,874,000  in 
1860,  or  nearly  838  per  cent.  ;  while  Wisconsin  increased  her  val- 
uation 550  per  cent.  ;  Illinois  467  per  cent.  ;  and  Michigan  330 
per  cent.  Nor  was  the  rapid  increase  of  wealth  confined  to  the 
new  States  of  the  West  solely,  although  the  augmentation  there 
during  the  last  census  decade,  was  by  far  the  most  remarkable. 
Thus,  Connecticut  increased  her  wealth  from  $155,707,000  in 
1850,  to  $444,274,000  in  1860,  or  in  the  ratio  of  185  per  cent.  ; 
while  Ohio  added  to  her  wealth  the  value  of  $689,000,000,  or  138 
per  cent.  ;  and  Pennsylvania  $694,000,000,  or  about  96  per  cent. 
New  York,  though  adding  not  quite  71  per  cent,  to  her  wealth  of 
1850,  yet  absolutely  augmented  it  by  $763,000,000  ;  a  sum  more 
than  $20,000,000  in  excess  of  three  times  the  value  of  the  wealth 
of  Iowa  ;  $200,000,000  more  than  has  been  acquired  by  South 
Carolina  since  her  existence  as  a  State  ;  and  exceeding  in  amount 

(laves  to  the  country  &a  laborers  is  obviously  not  aSfected  by  transferring  them  from  the  schedule  o* 
property  to  th<it  of  pfi-sons,  we  have  adopted  the  cen.->us  e.-timfttes  of  lS.5i)  imd  ISCO  ai  officliiUy  given- 
In  the  future  Ihe  country  will  undoubtedly  be  grently  the  gainer  in  wealth  by  the  change  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  Southern  laborers  from  a  state  of  servitude  to  one  of  freedom.  This  point  will  be  con- 
sidered hereafter. 


10 

the  entire  wealth  of  any  other  State  in  1860,  with  the  exception 
of  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  and  Virginia. 

The  two  States  which  increased  their  valuation  the  least  during 
the  decade  in  question,  were  Vermont  and  Massachusetts,  yet  the 
former  added  to  her  wealth  33  per  cent.,  and  the  latter  42  per 
cent. ;  the  absolute  increase  in  Vermont  being  more  than  $30,- 
000,000  ;  nnd  the  absolute  increase  in  Massachusetts  f  242,000,- 
000.  We  have,  therefore,  in  these  detailed  statements,  elements 
which  show  precisely  how  and  where  this  enormous  increase  of 
126.45  per  cent,  in  the  wealth  of  the  nation  from  1850  to  1860, 
was  effected. 

Supposing  now  the  war  to  close  at  or  before  the  end  of  1865 
with  a  restoration  of  the  dominion  of  the  old  Union  ;  supposing 
also  the  wealth  of  the  loyal  States  to  have  increased  since 
1860  at  the  decennial  ratio  of  100  per  cent,  (an  under  rather 
than  an  over  estimate)  ;  and  the  valuation  of  the  disloyal  States 
at  that  period  to  be  one  thousand  millions  less  than  in  1860  ; 
then  the  re-united  nation  will  start  anew  on  its  era  of  peace, 
with  a  capital  of  twenty  thousand  millions,  and  an  annual  in- 
crease of  wealth  which  certainly  cannot  be  estimated  at  less 
than  $2,000,000,000.*  This  sum,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind, 
is  not  the  income  of  the  nation,  out  of  which  the  poj)ulation  are 
to  pay  for  their  subsistence  and  their  luxuries,  but  the  profit 
over  and  above  our  expenses  as  a  nation  ;  or  in  other  words,  it 
is  an  actual  increase  of  capital — the  product  of  labor,  machinery 
and  commerce — which  is  to  be  annually  applied  to  the  perma- 
nent improvement  of  the  country,  and  to  be  made  the  instru- 
ment of  earning  more  wealth.  So  much,  then,  for  the  resources 
of  the  country  at  the  close  of  the  war,  or  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1865. 

Let  us  now  cautiously  prospect  the  resources  of  the  future, 
basing  our  estimates  on  the  teachings  of  the  present  and  the 
past.  For  this  purpose  we  assume  the  decennial  increase  of 
the  population  of  the  country  for  the  remainder  of  the  present 

•A<;lnpting  the  ratio  of  increase  at  100  per  c(!nt.  for  evei-y  ten  years,  instead  of 
126.45  per  cent.,  the  ratio  of  increa.se  frtim  1850  to  1860. 


11 


century  (commencing  back  with  the  year  1860)  to  be  30  per 
cent.,  and  the  decennial  increase  of  our  national  wealth  to  be  100 
per  cent.  ;  and  from  thes(3  data  as  the  basis  of  our  calculations,  we 
deduce  the  figures  of  the  following:  table  : 


^ 

v 

_^ 

05>-     1     O 

1 

3 

1 

J3 

"3 

3 

li 

S  'S. 

3    t. 

3   cj 

5  =• 

"S 

•o    . 
<«  '-^ 
«■£ 

tl 

Is 

■3  .2  5  *  * 

a  «  5  32 

c  P  "^  t^ 
«  .11  i  h  M 

a 

> 

£ 

g  0.5  = 

1860 

31,500,000 

$16,159,000,000 

$  510.00 

$3,504,000,000 

1865 

34,000,000 

21,5T4,Ono,000 

634.52 

$  82.35 

$5.35 

5,713,500,000 

1870 

40,950,000 

32,318,000,000 

789.00 

73.26 

4.38 

9.28 

7,608,000,000 

1880 

53,235,000 

64,636,010,000 

1214.00 

56.85 

3.38 

4.64 

15,216,000,000 

isno 

09,205,500 

129,272,000,000 

1ST8.00 

43.43 

2.60 

2.32 

30,632,000,000 

1900 

89,964,1.50 

258,514,000,000 

28T3.00 

33.34 

2.00 

1.16 

61,264,000,000 

In  the  above  table,  one  of  the  points  brought  out,  which  is 
most  worthy  of  interest  after  the  statement  of  the  enormous 
prospective  increase  of  our  national  wealth,  is  the  exhibit  of  the 
manner  in  which,  in  a  growing,  flourishing  state,  the  burden  of  a 
national  debt  decreases  relatively  to  the  burden  of  the  property 
which  must  pay  it.  This,  which  we  show  prospectively  in  the 
estimates  above  given  for  the  future,  is  also  strikingly  illustrated 
by  actual  facts  derived  from  the  financial  history  of  Great  Brit- 
ain. Thus  in  forty-two  years,  from  1816  to  1858,  the  percent- 
age of  national  d(^bt  to  national  wealth  fell  from  40  to  13  per 
cent.,  while  the  capital  of  the  debt  itself  was  reduced  less  than 
three  hundred  millions  on  ;i^4,200,000,000  ;  or  the  burden  fell  as 
from  40  to  13,  while  the  debt  fell  only  as  from  40  to  37  ;  or  to 
put  the  case  in  a  still  stronger  light,  the  debt  of  1858,  which 
would  have  been  a  charge  of  37-^  per  cent,  on  the  whole  priva,te 
wealth  of  Great  Britain  in  1816,  was  only  13.4  per  cent,  on  the 
property  of  1858.* 

But  objections  will  naturally  arise  in  the  minds  of  many  per- 
sons. Surprised  at  the  apparently  incredible  results  deduced 
from  our  statistics  respecting  the  future,  they  will  urge  that  there 
Dr.  William  Elder.     Xatioual  Almanac,  1864. 


12 

must  he  some  mistake  in  tlie  ratios  and  estimates  we  have  as- 
sumed or  calculated  upon  ;  or  if  not  tins,  then  that  we  have  no 
reasonable  grounds  for  believing  the  future  of  our  country  is  to 
develop  itself,  as  respects  wealth  and  population,  in  anything  like 
the  ratios  of  the  past.  It  is  therefore  proper  before  proceeding 
further  in  our  inquiiy,  to  review  in  a  degree  the  ground  we  have 
gone  over,  and  if  possible  detect  and  make  allowance  for  all  real 
or  probable  errors. 

And  first,  as  regards  population.  The  ratio  of  decennial  in- 
crease from  1860  to  1900,  the  conclusion  of  the  present  century, 
we  have  assumed  at  30  per  cent.  Now  the  actual  increase  has 
not  fallen  to  so  low  a  ratio  as  this,  during  any  one  of  the  seven 
decades  that  have  elapsed  since  the  establishment  of  the  Con- 
stitution to  1860.  During  the  three  most  unpromising  periods 
of  our  national  history,  viz,  :  the  decade  embracing  the  first  fed- 
eral administration,  when  order  was  being  restored  from  the 
previous  revolutionary  chaos ;  the  decade  of  the  last  war  with 
Great  Britain,  when  the  Capitol  of  the  nation  was  taken  and 
burnt ;  and  the  decade  which  includes  the  disastrous  financial 
years  of  1837-38 — the  ratios  of  increase  were  respectively  35, 
33,  and  32.67  per  cent.  It  must,  therefore,  be  evident,  that  so 
far  as  all  inferences  from  the  past  are  concerned,  we  should  be 
justified  in  fixing  the  ratio  of  the  prospective  increase  of  popula- 
tion in  the  United  States  at  considerably  above  30  per  cent.  In 
the  official  report  of  the  eighth  census,  published  during  the 
present  year  (1864),  the  following  are  the  calculated  estimates  of 
the  population  of  the  country  for  the  remaining  four  decades  of 
the  present  century,  viz:  1870,  42,300,000;  1880,56,450,000; 
1890,  77,266,000;  1900,  100,355,<)00.  The  figures  we  have  as- 
sumed in  our  calculations  are  considerably  less  than  these  official 
estimates,  viz.:  1870,  40,950,000;  1880,  53,235,000;  1890, 
69,205,500;  1900,89,964,150. 

Some  light  on  this  subject,  so  fiir  as  the  present  decade  is  con- 
cerlQcd,  may  also  be  obtained  from  an  examination  of  the  re- 
cent statistics  of  emigration.     The  following  table  exhibits  the 


13 

amount  of  foreign  emigration  into  the  United  States  for  the 
forty  years  included  in  the  four  hist  census  periods,  or  from  1820 
to  1860  :     • 

From  1820  to  1830 244,490 

"     1830  to  1840 552,000 

"     1840  to  1850 1,558,300 

"     1850  to  1860 2,707,624 

Total 5,062,414 

Being  a  yearly  average  of  126,560  for  the  last  forty  years,  and 
270,762  for  the  last  ten  years.  Immigration  reached  its  maxi- 
mum in  the  year  1854,  when  the  number  of  aliens  arriving  in 
this  country  was  reported  for  that  year  at  427,833.  Subsequent 
to  this  year,  foreign  immigration  rapidly  diminished,  viz.  :  to 
200,000  in  1855  ;  200,000  in  1856  ;  251,000  in  1857  ;  123,000 
in  1858  ;  and  121,000  in  1859.  Since  then,  notwithstanding 
the  breaking  out  and  continuance  of  our  domestic  troubles,  immi- 
gration has  commenced  to  flow  upon  us  in  rapidly  increasing 
proportion,  viz.  :  153,640  in  1860  ;  120,000  (estimated)  in  1862  ; 
182,000  in  1863  ;  while,  for  the  present  year,  the  number  will 
probably  reach,  if  not  exceed,  300,000  ;  the  average  arrivals 
for  May  and  June  being  reported  at  about  a  thousand  per  day. 
With  the  return  of  peace,  and  the  opening  up  of  opportunities 
for  profitable  mining  upon  the  Pacific,  of  cotton  cultivation  in 
the  South,  and  of  employment  at  large  wages  in  the  various 
manufacturing  establishments  that  are  sure  to  originate  or  in- 
crease under  a  permanent  protective  tariff,  immigration  will  un- 
doubtedly continue  to  flow  upon  us  in  a  rapidly  augmenting 
ratio.  So  far,  then,  as  our  increase  of  population  is  dependent 
upon  this  agency,  we  think  we  are  fully  justified  in  believing 
that  the  decennial  increase  will  not  be  less  than  the  figures  as- 
sumed, viz.  :  30  per  cent. 

We  come  next  to  consider  the  subject  of  the  prospective  in- 
crease of  our  national  wealth.  The  great  facts  developed  by 
the  statistics  of  the  census  of  1840-50,  and  of  1850-60,  are  the 


14 

very  remarkable  ratios,  according  to  which  the  increase  of  our 
national  wealth  progresses.  These  ratios  constitute,  in  a  great 
degree,  the  basis  on  which  our  estimates  of  the  future  augmen- 
tation of  national  values  are  founded  ;  and  the  direct  point  of 
inquiry  next  before  us  is,  are  we  justified  in  .assuming  them  as 
standards  of  comparison  ?  or,  in  other  words,  have  we  reasonable 
grounds  for  believing  that  the  future  of  the  country,  as  respects 
the  development  of  its  resources  and  the  increase  of  its  wealth, 
is  to  be,  even  approximately,  like  the  experience  <j>f  the  past  ? 

Large  as  was  the  official  valuation  of  the  national  wealth, 
and  the  decennial  ratio  of  increase,  as  returned  by  the  census  of 
1860,  there  is,  as  has  been  already  intimated,  abundant  and  con- 
clusive evidence  in  proof,  that  the  estimates  were  considerably 
lower  than  the  actual.  In  illustration  of  this  assertion,  we  sub- 
mit a  few  statements,  easily  capable  of  verification,  relative  to 
the  estimated  and  the  actual  wealth  of  portions  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  We  have  selected  this  State  simply  because  the 
documents  embodying  the  facts  in  question  were  readily  accessi- 
ble to  us  ;  and  not  because  we  have  any  reason  for  inferring 
that  the  valuation  of  New  York  was  more  exceptionable  than 
that  of  any  other  State. 

Thus  :  It  appears  from  the  report  of  the  State  Assessors,  pre- 
sented to  the  Assembly  of  New  York,  January  12th,  1863,  that 
the  amount  of  personal  property  belonging  to  citizens  of  Neiu 
York,  insured  December  12th,  1860,  in  the  various  insurance 
companies  belonging  to,  or  doing  business  in  the  State,  was 
$1,471,000,000,  a  sum  considerably  greater  than  the  valuation 
of  all  the  real  and  personal  property  assessed  by  the  State  during 
the  year  1861  ;  and  one  thousancUone  hundred  millions  ($1,138- 
000,000)  in  excess  of  the  official  valuation  of  all  the  personal 
property  of  the  State  for  the  year  1863. 

Again  :  The  value  of  all  the  real  and  personal  property  of  the 
city  of  Troy,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  as  returned  to  and 
adopted  by  the  State  and  county  authorities  for  the  purpose  of 
assessment  in  the  year  863,  wa»a  little  less  than  $14,000,000. 
In  May,  1862,  a  fire  occurred  in  this  city,  which  was  estimated 


15 

to  have  destroyed  from  one  fifteenth  to  one  twentieth  of  the 
property  of  the  entire  city.  The  money  value  of  the  property 
actually  destroyed  was  officially  estimated  by  the  Fire  Commis- 
sioners at  $2,724j000  (an  amount  exceeding  one  half  of  the 
assessed  valuation  of  all  the  personal  property  of  the  city)  ; 
on  this  an  insurance  was  paid  of  $1,396,000,  an  amount 
equivalent  to  one  tenth  of  the  assessed  value  of  all  the  property 
of  the  city.  If  we  now  assume,  as  we  have  every  reason  to  do, 
that  the  valuation  by  the  Fire  Commissioners  of  the  property 
destroyed  was  correct,  and  that  this  amount  represented  as  much 
as  one  tenth,  instead  of  one  fifteenth,  of  all  municipal  values, 
then  the  correct  valuation  of  the  entire  city  in  1863 — making 
due  allowance  for  the  losses  over  and  above  the  insurance — 
would  be,  instead  of  |14,000,000,  $25,912,000.  To  this  must 
further  be  added  the  valuation  of  the  laud  within  the  city  limits, 
as  the  value  of  this  within  the  bunit  district  was  not  impaired 
by  the  fire,  and  consequently  was  not  included  in  the  estimate 
of  the  losses  returned  by  the  Commissioners.  It  is  thus  evident, 
that  the  official  valuation  of  the  property  of  one  of  the  large 
cities  of  the  State  and  country  did  not,  at  its  maxinmm, 
approximate  within  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  true  and  actual  valua- 
tion. 

But  this  excessive  under-valuation  of  property  in  official  esti- 
mates is  not,  however,  limited  to  large  cities  ;  it  extends  equally 
to  the  small,  country,  agricultural  towns  and  districts.  As  an 
illustration  of  this,  we  have  selected,  at  random,  for  examina- 
tion, from  the  latest  available  official  document  of  the  State 
of  New  York,-  the  returns  of  the  town  of  Hoosic,  a  thriving 
agricultural,  and  to  some  extent,  manufacturing  town,  in  the 
northeast  part  of  Rensselaer  County,  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
The  population  of  this  town,  by  the  census  of  1860,  was  4,446. 
The  value  of  all  tha  personal  property  of  the  town,  as  returned 
by  the  comity  assessors  for  1863,  was  $188,412.  For  the  pur- 
pose of  testing  the  correctness  of  these  figures,  Ave  propose  now 
to  institute  an  independent  inquiry  respecting  the  valuation  of 
the  personal  property  of  this   town,  deriving  our  data  for  this 


"  16 

purpose  from  official  documents  and  other  sources  of  informa- 
tion equally  open  to  the  public,  and,  at  the  same  time,  premising 
that  the  writer  has  never  visited  the  town  in  question,  and  does 
not  enjoy  a  personal  acquaintance  with  any  of  its  inhabit- 
ants. 

We  find,  first,  by  referring  to  the  tables  of  the  last  New  York 
State  census,  that  the  number  of  sheep  returned  as  belonging  to 
the  town  of  Hoosic,  was  22,394,  of  fleeces  25,800,  and  a  yearly 
product  of  wool  amounting  to  85,519  lbs.  Estimating  the 
wool  at  50  cents  per  pound,  and  the  sheep  after  shearing  at  $2.50 
per  head,  we  have  then  of  personal  property  in  the  items  of 
sheep  and  wool  alone,  a  valuation  of  $98,729,  or  more  than  one 
half  of  the  officially-returned  value  of  all  the  personal  property 
of  the  town.  But  in  addition  to  the  sheep  and  wool,  there  was 
also  returned  as  belonging  to  the  town  for  the  census  year,  the 
following  other  items,  which  are  regarded  in  valuations  as  per- 
sonal property,  to  wit :  863  horses  ;  2,600  swine  ;  1,700  head 
of  cattle  ;  agricultural  tools  and  implements  to  the  value  of  $46,- 
600  ;  and  of  f\irm  produce,  69,000  lbs.  of  butter  ;  36,000  lbs. 
of  cheese  ;  6,500  tons  of  hay  ;  63,000  bushels  of  oats  ;  5,000 
bushels  of  wheat  ;  13,000  bushels  of  rye  ;  6,900  bushels  of  bar- 
ley ;  4,300  bushels  of  buckwheat ;  52,000  bushels  of  corn  ; 
33,000  bushels  of  potatoes  ;  266,000  lbs.  lint  of  flax  ;  8,300 
bushels  of  flaxseed  ;  5,600  bushels  of  apples  ;  3,000  lbs.  of 
honey  ;  while  the  annual  value  of  poultry  and  eggs  sold  was 
returned  as  upwards  of  $6,000.  The  town  also  contains  one  of 
the  largest  manufactories  of  agricultural  implements  in  the  coun- 
try ;  an  extensive  cotton-mill,  a  woollen-mill,  paper-mill,  iron- 
foundry,  saw-mill,  grist-mill,  &c.,  &c.  ;  in  all,  representing 
personal  property  to  the  amount  of  at  least  $200,000.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  above,  we  have  also  obtained  from  gentlemen,  whose 
opportunities  for  f  )rining  a  judgment  have  been  good,  an  esti- 
mate, that  the  value  of  stocks  (Government,  State,  manufactur- 
ing and  bank),  and  other  interest-bearing  securities,  held  by  the 
inhabitants  of  this  town,  could  not,  at  any  time  within  the  last 


17 

five  years,  have  less  than  a  valuation  of  from  two  hundred  and 
fifty  to  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  If  now  to  the  items 
thus  enumerated  we  allow  a  fair  amount  for  certain  non-enu- 
merated articles,  whose  valuation  is  always  a  matter  of  difficulty, 
— such  as  household  furniture,  wearing  apparel,  small  stocks  of 
merchandise,  jewelry,  watches,  carriages  and  the  like — we  think 
we  are  fully  warranted  in  assuming  that,  at  the  time  the  personal 
property  of  the  town  of  Hoosic  was  estimated  by  the  State  offi- 
cials at  ^188,412,  its  actual  and  real  value  could  not  have  been 
less  than  $800,000,  and,  in  all  probability,  was  in  excess  of  a 
million. 

Now  whether  we  are  justified  in  inferring,  from  the  above  facts 
and  statistics,  that  a  discrepancy  between  the  real  and  appraised 
value  of  property,  equal  to  that  which,  we  think,  we  have  shown 
to  exist  in  the  State  of  New  York,  applies  to  the  whole  coun- 
try, may  be  a  matter  of  doubt,  and  we  therefore  leave  it  to  the 
judgment  of  our  readers.  But  this  much,  we  affirm,  can  most 
unquestionably  be  asserted,  viz. :  that  wherever  the  judgment  of 
competent  appraisers  can  be  obtained,  respecting  the  valuation 
of  the  real  or  personal  property  of  any  town,  city,  or  district,  in 
any  State,  such  estimate  will  be  found  to  exceed  by  at  least  30 
per  cent.,  any  coincident  valuation  officially  made,  for  census  or 
assessment  purposes. 

The  conclusions  to  which  our  investigations  therefore  lead  us 
are,  that  the  national  valuation  of  sixteen  thousand  millions  in 
1860,  and  the  decennial  increase  of  126  per  cent,  (remarkable 
as  these  results  truly  are),  must  have  been  really  much  less  than 
the  actual  and  true  values  and  their  augmenting  ratio.  And  we 
think,  furthermore,  that  the  facts  waiTant  us  in  believing,  that 
the  total  wealth  of  the  country  was,  in  1860,  upward  of  twenty 
thousand  millions,  and  the  decennial  ratio  of  increase  nearer  150 
than  126  per  cent. 

The  results  of  the  past,  then,  as  we  have  stated  them  in  our 
tables  and  estimates,  do  not  therefore  admit  of  a  doubt,  and  we 

3 


18 

come  next  to  the  task  of  examining  the  nature  of  the  increase  of 
our  wealth  and  popuhitioii  from  1860  to  the  present  time. 

The  decennial  ratio  of  increase  in  the  wealth  of  the  loyal 
States,  we  assumed  to  have  diminished  since  1860,  in  consequence 
of  the  war,  from  129  per  cent,  (the  census  estimate)  to  100  per 
cent.,  and  we  have  also  adopted  these  latter  figures  as  the  pros- 
pective ratio  of  the  increase  of  the  wealth  of  the  whole  country 
for  the  remaining  decades  of  the  present  century.  As  no  official 
valuations  (National  or  State)  have  been  made  since  1860,  the 
store  of  facts  from  which  we  can  draw,  to  fortify  our  assumptions 
respecting  the  progress  of  the  last  four  years  and  of  the  future, 
must  be  necessarily  limited.  The  few  that  we  have  at  our  com- 
mand, are,  however,  interesting  and  highly  significant. 

The  returns  of  the  various  "joint-stock  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
panies" of  the  State  of  New  York,  as  made  to  the  State  Insu- 
rance Bureau,  show  an  increase  in  the  projDerty  insured  against 
fire  during  the  year  1862,  of  $17;3,000,000  over  the  amount  in- 
sured in  the  same  companies  in  1861  ;  and  an  increase  of  360,- 
000,000  for  the  year  1863,  over  the  amount  insured  in  1862. 
The  returns  of  the  Fire  Insurance  Companies  in  Massachusetts 
also  show  an  increase  of  $29,800,000  in  the  amount  of  risks  taken 
in  1862,  over  those  taken  in  1861.  We  are  well  aware  that  any 
deductions  which  can  be  drawn  from  these  statistics  must  be  very 
indefinite  ;  yet  they  nevertlieless  truly  indicate  a  great  progres- 
sive increase  of  wealth  in  the  country  during  a  most  extensive 
and  expensive  war. 

The  returns  of  Savings  Banks,  in  the  few  States  where  an- 
nual and  accurate  reports  are  officially  published,  furnish  us, 
however,  with  more  definite  information  respecting  the  recent 
increase  of  public  wealth  ;  and  especially  of  the  material  condi- 
tion of  the  laboring  classes.  Thus,  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
the  deposits  in  the  Savings  Banks  increased  from  1858  to  1861 
(inclusive)  as  follows  : 

1858 ,«;41, 472,000  1860 $58,178,000 

1859 48,194,000  1861 67,440,000 


19 

In  1857,  the  total  deposits  in  all  the  Savings  Banks  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  (the  United  Kingdom)  amounted  to  £37,- 
000,000  (!8^  185,000,000).  In  1857,  the  population  of  the  United 
Kingdom  was  estimated  to  have  been  about  29,000,000,  while 
that  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  1861,  was  probably  aljout. 
4,000,000.  The  latter,  therefore,  with  a  population  in  1861  a 
little  less  than  one  seventh  of  that  of  Great  Britain,  in  1857  had 
more  than  a  third  as  large  deposits  in  hrr  Savings  Banks  ;  a  most 
striking  commentary  on  the  relative  })rosperity  of  the  laboring 
elasses  of  the  two  countries. 

The  returns  of  the  Savings  Banks  of  Massachusetts  are  more 
complete  than  those  of  New  York,  and  are  consequently  more 
interesting.  Thus,  taking  the  ten  years  from  1850  to  1860,  the 
deposits  in  this  State  increased  231  per  cent.  In  the  same  pe- 
riod the  population  of  the  State  increased  about  24  per  cent.  ; 
the  total  valuation,  about  50  per  cent.  ;  and  the  bank  capital  (the 
means  required  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  State),  about  75 
per  cent.  The  accumulation  of  industrial  savings,  therefore,  ex- 
ceeded all  the  other  ratios  of  State  development  in  the  above- 
mentioned  period.*  The  deposits  from  1800  to  1863  (inclusive) 
have  been  as  follows  : 

1860 $45,054,000  1862 $50,403,000 

1861   44,785,000  1863 56,883,000 

Returns  from  Maine.  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Rhode  Island, 
and  Connecticut,  also  show  a  similar  progressive  increase  of  de- 
posits during  the  last  few  years  in  their  respective  Savings  Banks ; 
and  the  same  is  also  probably  true  of  the  Savings  Banks  of  most 
of  the  other  loyal  States,  although,  from  the  lack  of  official  re- 
ports, this  cannot  be  positively  asserted. 

Now  these  facts  and  statistics,  like  others  previously  referred 
to,  have  no  parallels  to  the  history  of  the  Savings  Banks  of 
Great  Britain  or  of  Europe.  There,  on  the  breaking  out  of 
war  ;  the  inteiTuption  of  great  branches  of  industry ;  the  failure 

*  Complete  rotnms  of  the  Savinf(.s  Banks  in  the  State  of  New  York,  piior  to 
1858,  are  not  obtainable  ;  bnt  for  the  f^nr  years  next  subsequent  to  1857.  the 
yearly  increase  of  deposits  was  more  rapid  than  in  Massachusetts. 


20 

of  crops  ;  or  during  seasons  of  great  financial  embarrassment, 
the  deposits  are  not  merely  suspended,  but  they  are  rapidly 
withdrawn.  Thus,  in  Great  Britain,  in  nine  out  of  the  seven- 
teen years  which  elapsed  from  1841  to  1857  inclusive,  the  with- 
drawals exceeded  the  deposits  ;  and  in  the  years  1847  and  1848, 
which  were  periods  of  great  commercial  distress  in  England, 
the  excess  of  withdrawals  over  deposits  was  more  than  twenty- 
five  millions  of.  dollars.  On  the  other  hand,  in  1861,  when  the 
loyal  portion  of  the  United  States  was  entering  upon  a  struggle, 
growing  out  of  an  attempt  to  destroy  the  whole  future  of 
their  Government — thereby  involving  in  a  common  ruin  all  pub- 
lic and  private  credit  ;  when  Southern  indebtedness  to  the 
North,  to  the  estimated  amount  of  $200,000,000,  was  deliber- 
ately repudiated  ;  and  when,  as  a  legitimate  consequence  of  this 
state  of  things,  the  trade,  industry,  and  commerce  of  the  country 
were  everywhere  extremely  depressed  ;  then,  in  this  disastrous 
year,  the  withdrawal  of  deposits  from  the  American  savings 
banks  were  so  small  as  to  be  hardly  worthy  of  notice  ;  the 
decline  in  the  aggregate  deposits  in  Massachusetts  being  only 
$269,000  out  of  a  capital  of  $45,500,000  ;  whUe  in  New  York, 
there  was  an  actual  excess  of  deposits  over  withdrawals  of  more 
than  six  and  a  half  millions,  and  an  aggregate  gain  in  capital  of 
more  than  nine  millions.  It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  in  this 
connection,  that,  since  the  commencement  of  the  war,  large  sums 
have  been  continually  diverted  from  savings  banks  to  government 
securities  ;  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  those  well  qualified  to  judge, 
that  the  decline  in  the  savings  bank  deposits  of  Massachusetts  for 
1861,  was  due  almost  entirely  to  the  diversion  of  investments  in- 
to this  and  other  channels,  and  not  to  the  impairment  of  the 
popular  resources.* 

*For  the  above  statistics  relative  to  Savings  Banks,  we  are  mainly  indebted  to 
the  report  of  the  Bank  Commissioners  of  Massachusetts  for  1861  (issued  in  1862) ; 
a  report  which,  through  its  exhibit  of  the  condition  of  the  savings  banks  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  New  York  for  the  first  year  of  our  civil  war,  is  said  to  have  made 
BO  great  an  impression  upon  a  leading  JCuropean  banker,  as  to  induce  him  to  keep 
a  copy  of  it  constantly  by  him,  as  a  most  unanswerable  argument  in  favor  of  the 
ample  ability  of  the  loyal  States  to  prosecute  their  war  and  carry  any  consequent 
debt  without  the  slightest  aid  from  European  capitalists. 


21 


The  statistics  respecting  the  production  of  the  great  agricul- 
tural staples  of  the  loyal  States  since  the  year  1859,  as  pub- 
lished in  the  reports  of  the  National  Bureau  of  Agriculture,  also 
indicate  a  continued  and  large  increase  in  these  important  ele- 
ments of  our  country's  wealth  and  strength.  Thus,  the  product 
of  wheat,  which  in  1859  was  138,000,000  busliels,  was,  in  1862, 
189,000,000  ;  and  in  1863,  191,000,000.  This  great  increase 
of  1862  and  1863  over  1859  cannot,  however,  be  altogether 
considered  as  a  regular  increase,  inasmuch  as  the  crop  of  1859, 
on  which  the  last  census  returns  were  based,  was  somewhat 
below  an  average,  while  the  crop  of  1862  was  one  of  the  best 
ever  harvested.  In  1863,  the  crop  of  wheat  gathered  in  the 
summer  was  good  ;  but  the  fall  crops  of  corn,  barley,  potatoes, 
&c.,  were  badly  injured  ;  first,  by  long-continued  droughts  ;  and 
secondly,  by  remarkably  early  and  destructive  frosts.  'I  hese  facts 
must  also  be  borne  in  mind  in  considering  the  following  agricul- 
tural statistics  of  the  loyal  States  for  1859,  1862,  and  1863, 
which,  for  convenience,  we  have  arranged  with  those  of  wheat 
given  above,  in  the  form  of  a  table  : 


Productions. 

Wheat 

Oats 

Rye 

Barley 

Corn 

Potatoes 

Tobacco 

Hay 

Wool 


1859. 


138,000,000  bushels. 
152,168,000 

18,792,000 

15,433,000   " 
k?,  029, 000 
107,337,000 
230,343,000  pounds. 

19,073,000  tons. 

50,183,000  pounds. 


1862. 


189,000,000  bushels. 
172,520,000 

21,254,000 

17,781,000 
586,704,000 
114,533,000 
208, 807, 000  pounds. 

21,500,000  tons. 

60,744,000  pounds. 


1863. 


191,000,000  bushels. 
174,858,000 

20,798,000 

16,760,000 
452,446,000 
101,457,000 
267,302,000  pounds. 

20,000,000  tons. 

79,405,000  pounds. 


It  will  thus  be  seen  that  there  was  a  very  large  increase  in 
the  product  of  all  the  crops  enumerated  in  the  year  1862  over 


22  . 

1859,  notwithstanding  the  existence  of  the  war  ;  and  that  there 
was  also  a  very  marked  increase  in  the  articles  of  wheat,  oats, 
tobacco,  and  wool,  produced  in  1863  (the  third  year  of  the  war) 
over  1862  ;  which  increase  would  doubtless  have  also  extended 
to  all  the  oth,?r  crops,  but  for  the  occurrence  of  unusual  drought 
and  frosts.     The  State  of  Iowa,  which,  out  of  a  population  in 

1860,  of  675,000,  furnished  to  the  federal  army,  from  May,  1861, 
to  the  end  of  1863,  52,240  men,  nevertheless  increased  her  num- 
ber of  acres  of  improved  land  from  3,445,000  in  1859,  to  4,700,- 
000  in  1862,  and  4,900,000  in  1863  ;  aad  her  product  of  wheat, 
from  8,795,000  bushels  in  1862,  to  14,592,000  in  1863.  In 
1859,  the  amount  of  wheat  raised  in  the  State  of  Indiana  was 
15,219,000  bushels  ;  while  in  1863,  notwithstanding  the  State, 
out  of  its  population,  in  1860,  of  1,350,000,  had  furnished  to  the 
army  more  than  124,000  fighting  men,  the  annual  product  of 
wheat  exceeded  20,000,000  of  bushels.  Nor  are  these  facts 
concerning  Iowa  and  Indiana,  remarkable  as  they  most  certainly 
are,  exceptionable  ;  for  although  exact  statistics  on  this  subject 
are  not  readily  available,  yet  enough  is  known  to  render  it  cer- 
tain that  the  products  of  industry  have  greatly  increased  in  all 
the  loyal  States  during  the  war,  notwithstanding  the  constant 
draughts  that  have  from  time  to  time  been  made  upon  the  num- 
bers of  their  producing  classes. 

A  few  statistics  illustrative  of  the  rapid  increase  of  wealth  in 
California,  derived  from  other  sources  than  that  of  raining,  are 
also  interesting  in  this  connection.  In  1855,  all  the  vines  in  the 
State  did  not  number  1,000,000  ;  but  in  1862  the  number  had 
increased  to  10,592,762  ;  while  the  product  of  wine  for  1862 
was  estimated  by  a  committee  of  the  Legislature  at  700,000 
gallons.  The  value  of  the  exports  of  the  products  of  the  vine 
from  California  for  the  last  three  years  is  returned  as  follows  : 

1861,  S8,000;  1862,  $25,000;  1863,  $81,456.  The  value  of 
wool  exported  from  California,  which  in  1860  was  about  $1,000,- 
000,  rose  in  1862  to  $6,000,000,  and  in  18»;3  to  $8,000,000.  • 

The  number  of  immigrants  arriving  in  this  country  during  the 
three  yeai's  of  war  has  also  been  greater  than  the  number 


23 

which  arrived  during  the  three  years  immediately  preceding  the 
war,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  figures  ;  1858,  nuiuln  r 
of  immigrants  arriving,  123,000  ;  1859,  121,000  ;  18G0,  153,000. 
Total,  397,000.  Since  the  war  ;  number  arriving  in  1861, 150,- 
000  ;  1862,  120,000  ;  1863,  182,000.  Total,  452,000  ;  and  if 
we  add  the  probable  number  of  the  present  year,  300,000,  we 
shall  have  an  aggregate  of  immigration  during  four  years  of  war, 
of  752,000.  Thirty  years  ago,  a  writer  in  Blackwood,  in  com- 
menting on  the  fact  that  the  pojjulation  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Wales  had  increased  specifically  about  a  million  from  1801 
to  1821,  in  consequence  of  the  influx  of  Irish  laborers  seeking 
employment,  observed  that  "  there  was  no  similar  iiistance  (to 
the  one  referred  to)  on  record,  of  so  great  an  inundation  of  in- 
habitants breaking  into  any  country,  barbarous  or  civilized,  not 
even  when  the  Goths  and  Vandals  overwhelmed  the  Koman  Em- 
pire." What  would  this  writer  have  said,  could  he  have  fore- 
seen, that  in  the  twenty  years  that  were  to  elapse  between  1840 
and  1860,  an  inundation  of  4,26'5,000  people  would  journey 
3,000  miles,  instead  of  a  brief  hundred,  to  seek  a  home  and  a 
livelihood  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  ! 

An  examination  of  the  tables  of  our  exports  and  imjjortgfor  the 
five  years  next  preceding  1863,  furnishes  also  some  very  signifi- 
cant facts  illustrative  of  the  vast  aggregate  wealth  of  the  whole 
country,  and  particularly  of  the  loyal  States,  during  the  first 
two  years  of  the  war.  Thus,  the  total  amount  of  exports  for  the 
three  years,  from  1858  to  1861  inclusive,  when 'cotton  and  other 
Southern  staples  constituted  a  large  portion  of  their  value,  was 
$1,167,768,000  ;  and  of  imports,  $1,051,704,000  ;  leaving  a 
balance  to  our  credit  as  the  result  of  three  years  trade,  of  $116,- 
063,000.  This  was  then  considered,  and  most  justly,  as  a  grati- 
fying proof  of  the  prosperity  and  strength  of  the  country  ;  and 
yet  in  the  next  two  years,  or  from  1861  to  1863,  with  war  on  a 
gigantic  scale  prevailing,  and  with  a  total  loss  of  what  were  our 
former  chief  exi)orts,  the  credits  arising  from  trade  with  foreign 


24 

nations  were  $102,878,000  ;*  or  in  other  words,  the  loyal  part 
of  our  divided  country  realized  in  two  years  from  its  foreign 
trade,  a  sum  nearly  as  large  as  had  accrued  to  the  whole  coun- 
try in  the  preceding  three  years  of  peace,  with  all  our  staples 
available  for  export. 

We  come  now  more  particularly  to  the  consideration  of  the  fu- 
ture ;  and  our  task,  in  this  respect,  can  be  little  else  than  the 
pointing  out  of  the  national  resources  available  for  development. 

We  have  already  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  subject  of  immi- 
gration ;  but  there  are  features  of  great  interest  connected  with 
it  that  we  have  not  alluded  to.  The  total  number  of  immigrants 
who  have  amved  in  this  country  since  the  commencement  ol 
1861,  has  already  been  given  as  about  452,000  ;  and  the  proba- 
ble number,  up  to  the  close  of  the  present  year,  as  752,000.  The 
general  agent  in  charge  of  the  immigrant  landing  depot  in  New 
York  City,  estimates  the  average  amount  of  coin  in  the  posses- 
sion of  each  immigrant  landing,  from  the  1st  of  January  to  the 
1st  of  May,  1864,  in  New  York,  at  $80.  Assuming  this  amount 
per  capita  to  remain  constant,  and  that  the  total  immigration  for 
1864  reaches  the  number  of  300,000,  then  the  specie  brought 
into  the  country  for  this  year  only,  will  amount  to  $24,000,000 — 
a  sum  exceeding  two  thirds  of  all  the  specie  held  by  the  banks  of 
New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  on  the  1st  of  July  of  the 
present  year. 

Supposing  $80  to  represent  the  amount  of  coin  belor^ging  to 
each  immigrant  amving  from  January  1,  1861,  to  December 
31,  1864,  then  the  total  aggregate  of  specie  thus  brought  into 
the  country  would  be  $67,160,000  ;  or  if  we  reduce  the  individual 
average  from  $80  to  $50,  $37,600,000.t 

*  The  following  are  the  figures  in  detail  : 

Exports.                   Tmpo't-t.  ■Balances. 

1858-59 $356,789,462  $;338, 765,130  $18,024,338 

1859-GO 400,122,296              362,163,941  37,958,355 

1860-61 410,856,818              350,775,835  60,080,983 

1,861-62 229.790,280              205,819,823  23,970,457 

1862-63 331,844,247              252,935,872  78,908,375 

t  Mr.  John  A.  Kennedy,  formerly  Superintendent  of  the  New  York  Castle  Gar- 
den Iinniigrution  Depot,  stated  some  years  since,   in  a  letter  addressed  to  the 


25 

But  the  value  of  an  immigrant  to  the  country  is  not  to  be  esti- 
mated merely  by  the  amount  of  personal  property  he  possesses, 
or  brings  with  him.  As  a  laborer  and  a  producer,  or  if  you  please, 
as  a  consumer  of  products,  yielding  a  revenue  to  the  state,  he 
has  a  value  which  belongs  to  the  country,  as  much  so  as  the 
value  of  a  slave  is  arrogated  to  belong  to  him  who  calls  himself 
his  master.  This  value,  counting  Caucasian  blood  at  the  North 
to  be  worth  as  much  as  Ethiopian  was  at  the  South  before  the 
war,  and  reducing  it  according  to  the  Southern  tariff  for  unedu- 
cated labor  to  a  money  basis,  we  may  fairly  estimate  to 
average  $500  per  head  for  each  immigrant  man,  woman,  and 
child,  arriving  in  this  country.  Adopting  this  standard,  then,  we 
have,  as  the  aggregate  cash  value  to  the  country  of  the  immigra- 
tion of  1864,  the  sum  of  $150,000,000  ;  and  of  the  immigration 
from  1861  tothe  close  of  1864  inclusive,  the  sum  of  $376,000,- 
000.  If  we  assume  further,  that  i'or  the  remaining  five  years  of 
the  present  decade,  i.  e.  from  January  1,  1855,  to  December 
31,  1869,  the  annual  immigration  averages  only  250,000  ;  then, 
we  have,  as  the  cash  value  to  the  country  for  the  present  decade 
of  this  constant  influx  of  population,  the  enormous  sum  of  one 
thousand  millions  of  dollars. 

If  any  are  inclined  to  the  opinion,  that  our  estimate  of  $500 
as  the  cash  value  to  the  country  of  each  immigrant  arriving  is  too 
high,  we  would  call  his  attention  to  the  following  circumstan- 
ces :  1st,  that  the  number  of  slaves,  of  all  ages  and  conditions 
returned  by  the  census  of  1860,  was,  3,950,000 ;  and  that  their 
assessed  value  was  $1,936,000,000;  or  nearly  $490  per  head; 
2d,  that  the  price  of  an  able-bodied  field  laborer — man  or 
woman — at  the  South,  has  not  been  less  than  a  thousand  dollars 
per  head  for  many  years  ;  and  3d,  that  a  great  majority  of  the 
immigrants  amving  in  this  country  are  in  the  prime  of  life  ;  in 
full  health  ;  are  possessed  of  some  little  property,  in  money  or 


American  Geographical  Society,  that  "  a  careful,  systematic  inqiiiry,  extending 
over  a  period  of  seventeen  months,  gave  an  average  of  $100  (almost  entirely  in 
coin)  as  the  money  property  of  each  immigrant  man,  woman,  and  child,"  lauding 
Bt  New  York. 


26 

tools,  and  are  very  often  higlily  skilled  in  some  department  of 
mechanical  industry.  We  leave  it,  therefore,  to  our  readers  to 
say,  whether  our  estimate  of  $500  could  not  with  fairness  be 
rather  placed  at  $1,000  jier  capita. 

It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind,  that  all  the  strength  and 
wealth  derived  by  a  country  from  such  an  addition  to  the  popu- 
lation, as  the  United  States  have  been  receiving,  and  the  loyal 
States  do  still  receive,  constitute  an  advantage  absolutely 
unknown  to  England  and  the  other  European  states.  In 
the  case  of  Great  Britain,  it  has  been  estimated,  that  the 
number  of  foreigners  who  arrive  upon  her  shores,  with 
the  expectation  of  making  that  country  their  permanent 
home,  does  not  exceed  one  thousand  souls  per  annum.  There- 
fore, in  respect  to  immigration,  as  has  been  heretofore  re- 
marked, in  respect  to  our  decennial  increase  of  wealth,  the 
position  of  the  countiy,  is  entirely  anomalous,  and  without  pre- 
cedent in  history  ;  and  our  ability  to  sustain  and  pay  oif  an  im- 
mense debt  cannot  be  rightfully  judged  of  by  any  foreign 
precedents. 

The  amount  of  arable,  fertile  land  in  the  possession  of  a  state 
or  country,  is  always  regarded  as  one  of  its  great,  if  not  its 
chief  element  of  wealth  ;  inasmuch  as  all  wealth  comes  origi- 
nally from  the  soil,  and  all  commerce  is  but  the  interchange  of 
the  raw  or  manufactured  products  of  the  soil.  Now  it  is  well 
known,  that  the  Federal  Government  has  yet  in  its  possession 
one  of  the  largest  domains  of  unoccupied  fertile  soil,  upon  the 
face  of  the  globe,  all  of  which  is  open  to  the  actual  settler^ 
without  money  and  without  price.  It  is  well,  however,  in  cal- 
culating upon  our  ability  to  pay  debts  and  taxes,  to  know  more 
than  generally;  what  our  national  assets  are  in  this  particular, 
and  we  therefore  invite  the  attention  of  our  readers  to  the  fol- 
lowing statement  of  facts  : 

On  the  30th  of  September,  1863,  the  quantity  of  public  lands 
remaining  in  the  possession  of  the  Federal  Government,  was 
(1,044,628,000)  one  thousand  and  forty-four  millions  of  acres, 
embracing  an  area  of  over  2,000,000  square  miles.     This  domain 


27 

is  about  two  thirds  of  our  geograpliical  extent,  and  is  nearly 
three  times  the  area  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  at  the 
cornnicncenient  of  their  cxistenee  as  a  nation.  It  is  an  extent 
of  territory  sufficient  to  make  thirty-two  additional  States,  each 
as  large  as  the  great  central  State  of  Ohio.  It  includes  the  ex- 
tensive and  rich  mining  districts  of  California,  Nevada,  Colorado, 
Oregon,  Washington  Territory,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico.  "It 
embraces  soils  capable  of  abundant  yield  of  the  rich  productions 
of  the  tropics,  of  sugar,  cotton,  rice,  tobacco,  and  the  grape 
(now  a  staple  of  California),  and  of  the  great  cereals  of  the 
more  temperate  zones — wheat  and  corn.  Instead  of  a  dreary 
waste  as  this  land  was  formerly  supposed  to  be,  the  millions  of 
buffalo,  elk,  deer,  and  mountain  sheep,  the  primitive  inhabitants 
of  the  soil,  fed  by  the  hand  of  nature,  attest  its  capacity  for  the 
abundant  support  of  a  dense  population  through  the  skilful  toil 
of  the  agriculturist.  Furthermore,  not  only  is  the  yield  of 
food  for  man  in  this  region  abundant,  but  it  holds  in  its  bosom 
the  richest  known  deposits  of  gold,  silver,  and  mercury  ;  and  of 
the  so-called  useful  metals,  lead,  copper,  and  iron."  The  value 
of  this  vast  national  property,  if  estimated  at  the  former  govern- 
ment price  of  land,  viz.  :  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre, 
would  be  ^1,305,785,000. 

Previous  to  the  war,  cotton  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  chief 
elements  of  our  national  wealth  and  prosperity.  Owing  to 
favoring  circumstances  of  climate  and  soil,  American  cotton  was 
superior  in  quality  and  inferior  in  price  to  all  raised  elsewhere  ; 
and  it  had  come  to  form  so  large  a  part  of  the  commerce  and 
manufacturing  industry  of  tlie  world,  as  to  acquire  the  appella- 
tion of  "King."  Nor  was  the  title  inappropriate.  Cotton  was 
indeed  "King,  "  and  his  throne  in  1860  was  5,000,000  of  bales, 
raised  by  the  labor  and  watered  by  the  tears  of  four  millions  of 
the  most  miserable  of  slaves.  Though  now  detlironed,  cotton 
will  be  King  again,  but  his  dominion  henceforth,  will  be  infi- 
nitely wider,  and  his  tenure  of  authority  infinitely  stronger,  inas- 
much as  it  will  be  based  on  free  labor,  and  the  skilful  appliances 


28 

wliicli  economical  and  stilled  agriculture  knows  how  to  prepare 
and  use.  Are  we  speaking  boastfully  or  metaphorically  ?  Let 
us  see. 

It  is  now  generally  admitted  by  all  authorities,  that  while  a 
full  supply  of  cotton  may,  in  course  of  time,  and  under  the 
stimulus  of  high  prices,  be  procured  elsewhere  ;  yet,  whenever 
its  cultivation  is  resumed,  under  favorable  circumstances,  in  the 
United  States,  this  country  will  again  become  the  main  depend-' 
ence  of  the  world  ;*  as  much  so  as  in  1860,  when  89^  per  cent, 
of  all  the  cotton  consumed  in  Great  Britain  was  the  product  of 
the  Southern  States. 

Some  idea  of  the  increased  product  of  cotton  required  yearly, 
to  meet  the  demands  of  the  world's  consumption,  may  be 
formed  from  the  fact,  that  the  average  increased  consumption  of 
England  alone,  from  1850  to  1860,  was  at  the  rate  of  87,880 
bales  (of  450  pounds  each)  per  annum,  or  39,546,000  pounds. 
Some  idea  of  the  capacity  of  this  country  to  supply  this  annually 
increasing  demand,  may  also  be  formed  from  the  fact,  that,  of  the 
land  available  and  suitable  for  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  in  the 
so-called  cotton  States,  the  maximum  amount  ever  cultivated  did 
not  exceed  one  and  seven  tenths  (1-^^-^-)  per  cent. 

That  the  supply  of  cotton  from  the  South,  under  its  system 
of  slave  labor,  has  not  been  for  many  years  equal  to  the  demand 
made  upon  it,  is  clearly  shown  by  the  fact,  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  annual  crop  increased  from  2,394,000  bales,  in  1844,  to 

*  The  only  region  which  has  yet  been  discovered  outside  of  the  United  States, 
where  all  the  conditions  for  the  successful  cultivation  of  cotton  are  met  with  (for 
it  appears  to  be  essential  that  it  shall  not  be  a  tropical  region)  is  in  Queensland, 
Australia.  Here,  however,  the  great  distance  from  market,  the  scarcity  and  high 
price  of  labor,  and  the  proximity  to  rich  gold  fields,  must  prevent  any  very  rapid 
development  in  the  cultivation. — lieport  by  Edward  Atkinson,  to  the  Boston  Board 
of  Trade,  1863. 

In  a  more  recent  publication  upon  the  future  supply  of  cotton,  Mr.  Atkinson 
modifies  the  above  statement,  and  gives  the  details  of  the  unexpected  increase  in 
the  cotton  crop  of  Egypt,  and  the  successful  attempt  to  introduce  the  cultivation 
of  cotton  in  Turkey  and  Asia  Minor  ;  and  he  also  states  that  the  cultivation  of  the 
staple  in  these  countries  will  prob  ibly  be  maintained  even  at  ordinary  prices,  as 
the  best  Engli.sh  and  French  skill  and  machinery  are  being  applied,  but  that  no 
crop  can  be  raised  in  many  years  which  shall  more  than  meet  the  increased  de- 
mand which  will  prevail  when  low  prices  are  restored,  or  which  can  interfere 
svith  the  demand  on  this  country  for  larger  crops  than  were  ever  before  raised. 


29 

4,675,000,  in  1859,  the  price  advanced  in  Liverpool,  during  the 
same  time  from  8^  to  11  cents  per  pound,  or  $9.67^^  cents  per 
bale. 

The  time,  therefore,  had  fully  come,  when  some  change  in  the 
system  of  labor  was  absolutely  needed  at  the  South,  in  order  to 
enable  it  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  world  for  its  great  staple  ; 
and  that  this  change  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  progress  before 
the  war,  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that,  of  the  cotton  crop  of 
1850,  one  nintli  part  was  the  product  of  free  labor.  How  rap- 
idly the  change  will  take  place  after  the  war,  and  how  rapidly 
the  supremacy  of  our  country  in  the  cotton  markets  of  the  world 
will  bo  again  attained  to,  is  thus  shown  by  Edward  Atkinson, 
Esq.,  in  an  able  and  exhaustive  report,  "On  the  manufacture  and 
supply  of  cotton,"  made  to  the  Boston  Board  of  Trade  in  1863, 
and  to  whom  wo  are  mainly  indebted  for  our  statistics  on  this 
subject.  He  says  :  "  The  principal  cotton  region  of  the  South 
is  not  upon  the  unhealthy  coast  line  w^here  malarious  fevers  pre- 
vail, but  is  mostly  a  healthy,  interior  upland  country,  the  lar- 
gest portion  being  far  more  healthy  than  many  of  the  Western 
States.  An  able-bodied  man  can  easily  raise,  and,  with  the  as- 
sistance of  his  children,  can  pick,  5,000  pounds  of  cotton  per  an- 
num ;  at  the  same  time  raising  an  ample  supply  of  food  for  his 
family.  This  can  be  done  with  less  hard  work  than  is  required 
of  farm  laborers  in  New  England.  It  is  not  probable  that  large 
crops  of  cotton  will  be  raised  for  the  "next  five  years,  or  that  cotton 
will  in  that  time  rule  below  an  average  of  25  cents  per  pound. 
How  rapid  a  settlement  of  the  cotton  region  will  be  induced  by 
the  ability  of  a  common  laborer  to  raise  in  each  year  an  ample 
supply  of  food,  and  a  crop  of  cotton  which  will  bring  $1,250  in 
gold  on  demand,  let  each  one  judge." 

We  come  next  to  consider  the  probable  future  augmentation 
of  our  national  wealth  and  national  revenues  from  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mineral  deposits  of  the  country,  especially  the  de- 
posits of  the  precious  metals,  which  are  known  to  exist  through- 
out the  Western  portion  of  the  continent,  and  extend,  accord- 
ing to  the  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land 


30 

Office  (December,  1862).,  over  an  area  of  more  than  a  million 
square  miles  of  our  territory. 

The  gold  product  of  California,  from  1848  to  1862,  inclusive, 
is  variously  estimated  at  from  $734,000,000  (Hittel),  to  $1,049,- 
000,000  [Banl-ers'  Magazine).  The  annual  gold  product  of  Cali- 
fornia, at  the  present  time,  is  believed  to  be  about  $44,000,000  ; 
while  the  product  of  all  the  mining  industry  of  the  State  (gold, 
quicksilver,  &c.),  for  the  past  three  years  is  returned  as  follows  : 
1861,  $42,100,000  ;  1862,  $44,105,000  ;  1863,  $47,9>2,000 
The  amount  of  treasure  shipped  from  San  Francisco  during 
1863,  was  $46,071,000.* 

Reliable  data  for  accurately  estimating  the  2^'''^sent  gold  and 
silver  production  of  the  loyal  States  and  Territories  are  not 
now  obtainable  ;  but  there  are  reasonable  grounds  for  believing 
that  the  value  of  the  j^roduct  for  the  year  1864  will  not 
fall  short  of  $125,000,000.  With  a  view  of  assisting  our 
readers  to  form  a  judgment  on  this  topic,  we  submit  the  follow- 
ing statements  :  The  amount  of  gold  derived  from  the  mines  of 
Washington  Territory,  for  1862,  was  estimated  at  $5,('00,000  ; 
from  the  mines  of  Colorado  for  the  same  year,  $12,000,000  ; 
the  receipts  of  silver  at  San  Francisco,  from  the  Washoe  and 
Esmeralda  mines  of  Nevada,  were  $12,430,000  in  1863,  against 
$6,000,000  in  1862  ;  while  the  total  jmxluce  of  these  mines  for 
1863  was  estimated  to  exceed  $15,000,000.  The  product  of  the 
Oregon  mines  in  1862  was 'estimated,  from  carefully  collected 
data,  to  exceed  $12,000,000 ;  and,  according  to  Mr.  S.  B.  Rug- 
gles,  their  product  for  1S63  was  cstiniatod  at  $20,000,000- 
The  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  in  his  official 

*  The  Custom-HoTise  exhibit  of  the  export  of  gold  from  San  Francisto  is  an 
uncertaiu  test  by  which  to  determine  the  total  gold  prodnct  of  California.  Messrs. 
Hussey,  Ijond  &  Hale  of  San  Francisco,  in  a  recent  circular  regarding  the  gold 
product  of  California,  state  that  the  amount  canned  home  by  returning  passen- 
gers, the  exports  to  Europe,  China,  the  Pacific  ports  of  South  Aiuenca,  the 
amount  can-ied  overland  to  iVIexico.  and  the  amount  retained  in  California  for 
puri:)oses  of  cuiTency,  is  equal  to  seventy-five  jier  cent,  upon  the  amount  of  ex- 
ports as  exhibited  by  the  manifests  of  the  American  steamers  to  Panama.  One 
returning  passenger  is  known  to  have  carried  S80,000  as  baggage,  to  save  freight. 
A  single  passenger  on  board  the  ill-fated  Central  America  is  known  to  have  car- 
ried twenty  thousand  dcjllars  in  his  valise. 


31 

report,  made  December  29th,  1862,  in  speaking  of  the  "  great 
auriferous  region  of  the  United  States"  in  the  Western  portion  of 
the  continent,  says  : 

"  The  yield  of  the  precious  metals  alone  of  this  region  will 
not  ftill  below  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  the  present  year, 
and  it  will  augment  with  the  increase  of  population  for  centuries 
to  come."  "  Within  ten  years  the  annual  produce  of  these  mines 
will  reach  two  hundred  milli(.)ns  of  dollars  in  the  precious  metals, 
and  in  coal,  iron,  tin,  lead,  quicksilver,  and  copper,  half  that 
sum."  He  adds  that,  "  with  an  amount  of  labor  relatively  equal 
to  that  expended  in  California  applied  to  the  gold  fields  already 
known  to  exist  outside  of  that  State,  the  production  of  tins  year, 
including  that  of  California,,  would  exceed  four  hundred  millions." 
And  yet  no  fact  is  more  unquestionable  than  that  this  great  terri- 
tory is  in  its  infancy  of  mining. 

But  these  magnificent  results  of  mining  upon  the  Pacific  slope, 
and  their  still  more  magnificent  promise  for  the  future,  should 
not  cause  us  to  overlook  the  steady  development  of  mining  in- 
dustiy  in  other  portions  of  our  country.  The  production  of 
coal,  iron,  copper,  lead,  and  salt,  in  the  loyal  States  east  of  the 
Mississippi  has  everywhere  greatly  increased  since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war,  and  in  no  locality  diminished.  Take 
for  example  the  statistics  of  the  mineral  region  of  Lake  Superior. 
In  1862,  the  quantity  of  iron  shipped  from  Marquette  was  115,- 
721  tons  ;  in  1863,  the  quantity  exceeded  200,000  tons.  The 
product  of  copper  from  the  mines  of  this  region  has  also  in- 
creased since  1858,  as  follows  :  Product  in  1858,  3,500  tons  ; 
1859,  4,200  tons  ;  1860,  6,000  tons  ;  1861,  7,400  tons  ;  1863, 
8,548  tons.  This  last  amount  exceeds  one  half  of  all  the  copper 
annually  obtained  from  all  the  well-known  mines  of  Great 
Britain.  In  1858,  there  was  also  added  to  our  mineral  wealth 
and  industry  an  article  whose  production,  in  a  measure  peculiar 
to  our  country,  has  increased  since  the  commencement  of  the 
war  in  a  manner  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world's 
trade  and  commerce.  We  allude  to  the  article  petroleum,  or 
"  coal  oil."     In  1859,  petroleum  held  no  place  in  the  list  of  our 


32 

country's  exports.  In  1861,  however,  1,112,000  gallons  were 
exported  ;  in  1862,  the  quantity  increased  to  10,800,0(.l0  gallons  ; 
while  for  1863,  the  exports  exceeded  28,000,000  gallons  ;  which 
would  have  required  for  its  conveyance  the  services  of  252  ships 
of  the  average  burden  capacity  of  1,000  tons  each.  The  whole 
national  product  of  petroleum  for  the  year  1863  undoubtedly 
exceeded  60,000,000  gallons,  which,  at  its  average  price  of  thirty 
cents  per  gallon,  added  to  the  annual  product  of  the  country  a 
value  of  eighteen  millions  of  dollars. 

In  the  census  returns  of  1860,  Michigan  was  not  even  men- 
tioned as  one  of  the  States  in  which  the  manufacture  of  salt 
constituted  a  notable  branch  of  industry  ;  yet  in  1863,  the 
amount  of  salt  manufactured  in  this  State  exceeded  two  millions 
of  bushels  ;  a  growth  in  two  years  equal  to  that  attained  by 
the  celebrated  Onondaga  salt-works  of  New  York,  thirty-eight 
years  after  these  salt-springs  had  passed  under  the  superinten- 
dence of  the  State. 

Thus  rapidly  has  the  mineral  wealth  of  the  loyal  States  devel- 
oped since  the  commencement  of  the  war. 

One  great  and  acknowledged  source  of  wealth  to  Great  Britain 
has  been  the  product  of  hermines  ;  the  officially  returned  value  of 
which  for  1862  was  $170,000,000  (£34,000,000).  Large  as  this 
amount  is,  and  much  as  it  undoubtedly  contributed  to  the  re- 
sources of  the  kingdom,  the  mineral  product  of  the  loyal  States 
for  1863  undoubtedly  exceeded  it  in  value  ;  our  estimate  for  the 
year  being  as  follows 

Precious  Metals  (Gold  and  Silver) $100,000,000 

Coal  (valuation  in  1860  by  Census  report,  $19,365,000) 36,000,000 

Petroleum 18,000,000 

Quicksilver 2,000,000 

Pig  Iron  (valuation  by  Census  of  1860,  $19,487,000) 30,000,000 

Copper 2,500,000 

Lead  (valuation  of  1860,  $977,281) 1,000,000 

Salt  (valuation  of  1860,  ?2,265,000) 2,500,000 

Other  products,  zinc,  nickel,  chrome,  &c 200,000 

Total f  182,200,00f 


33 

And  this  in  the  mere  inception  of  our  mining  industry,  when 
we  may  be  said  to  have  done  little  more  than  "  scratch  the 
ground," 

No  estimate  of  future  resources  of  the  country,  furthermore 
can  be  considered  complete,  which  fails  to  take  into  account  the 
great  augmentation  of  values  which  is  sure  to  accrue  in  time  to 
the  South  from  the  substitution  of  free  for  slave  labor.  This 
matter  is  set  in  a  clear  light  by  the  following  statement,  which 
any  one  who  doubts  can  verify  for  himself  by  referring  to  the 
official  statistics  of  the  census  of  1860  : 

If  the  product  per  head  of  the  population  in  the  Slave  States 
had  been  the  same  in  1859  that  it  loas  in  the  Free  States,  there 
ivould  have  been  added  to  the  aggregate  national  wealth  returned 
at  that  time,  the  additional  value  of  $1,531,631,000  ;  a  sum 
nearly  equal  to  the  entire  national  debt,  June,  1864. 

The  advantage  of  a  system  of  free  labor  over  slave  labor,  in 
increasing  the  aggregate  national  wealth,  is  also  clearly  shown  by 
comparing  Maryland  in  1860,  one  of  the  most  prosperous  of 
the  slave  States,  with  Massachusetts,  one  of  the  most  prosperous 
of  the  free  States.  Maryland  has  11,124  square  miles  ;  Massa- 
chusetts 7,000  square  miles.  Maryland  has  a  shore  line — sea  and 
river — of  1,336  miles  ;  Massachusetts,  764  miles.  Maryland 
has  double  the  area  of  good  land  that  Massachusetts  has.  With 
these  natural  advantages  on  the  side  of  the  former,  let  us  now 
contrast  the  industrial  and  other  advantages  which  have  been 
obtained  by  the  latter.  Rate  of  mortality  in  Massachusetts,  1 
in  92  ;  in  Maryland,  1  in  57.  Value  of  the  products  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  1860,  $287,000,000;  in  Maryland,  $66,009,000. 
Value  of  products  per  head  in  Massachusetts,  $235  ;  in  Mary- 
land, $96.  That  is  to  say,  the  average  annual  value  of  the  labor 
of  each  person  in  Massachusetts  was  greatly  more  than  doulJe 
that  of  Maryland.  The  value  of  all  property,  real,  and  personal, 
in  Massachusetts,  in  1860,  was  SB  15,000,000  ;  in  Maryland, 
$376,000,000.  Comparing  this  with  the  value  of  products  be- 
fore mentioned,  the  profit  on  capital  was  in  Massachusetts  35 
per  cent.  ;  in  Maryland,  17  per  cent.,  or  less  than  one  half  ;   and 

3 


34 

it  is  a  noticeable  fact,  that  only  in  two  slave  States,  Delaware 
and  Missouri,  was  the  rate  of  j^rofit  larger  than  in  Maryland, 
and  in  both  of  these  were  comparatively  fewer  slaves.  Another 
remarkable  fact,  recently  brought  out  by  Hon.  R.  J.  Walker 
(to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  these  slave  and  free  State  statis- 
tics), is,  that  as  Maryland  is  to  Massachusetts,  so  is  South  Caro- 
lina to  Maryland  ;  the  product  per  head  in  1860  being  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, $235  ;  in  Maryland,  f^96  ;  in  South  Carolina,  $56  ; 
or  in  free  Massachusetts  the  reward  of  labor  is  more  than  double 
that  in  Maryland,  and  four  times  that  in  South  Carolina. 

Now,  the  way  to  make  the  Southern  States  as  rich  and  pro- 
ductive as  the  Northern,  and  even  more  so,  as  Mr.  James  Brooks, 
editor  of  the  N.  Y.  Express,  justly  observed  more  than  thirty 
years  ago,  during  a  journey  in  the  South,  is  to  abolish  slaveiy. 
"  Substitute  skilful,  intelligent,  interested  free  labor  for  unskilled, 
ignorant,  and  uninterested  slave  labor,"  and,  as  he  remarked, 
"  South  Carolina  would  be  the  wealthiest  State  in  the  Union." 

Now,  we  are  going  to  have  the  assistance  of  this  added  and 
hitherto  undeveloped  wealth,  to  pay,  not  only  the  interest,  but 
the  principal  of  our  national  debt.  With  "small  farms  and  di- 
vided free  labor  taking  the  place  of  the  feudal  system,"  as  Mr. 
Brooks  says,  all  the  immense,  undeveloped  natural  resources  of 
the  Southern  States  will  vastly  increase  our  national  wealth  and 
prosperity.  This  increase,  Mr.  R.  J.  Walker  (whose  advantages 
and  capability  for  forming  a  judgment  are  not  surpassed  by  any 
other  person)  estimates  will  amount  in  ten  years  to  the  great 
sum  of  over  seventeen  thousand  millions  of  dollars. 

Thus  the  mere  addition  we  shall  make  in  ten  years  to  our  na- 
tional wealth,  by  abolishing  the  "  institution"  which  has  been  so 
long  a  curse  and  a  source  of  dissension  to  us,  would  many  times 
over  pay  our  national  debt. 

Moreover,  the  abolition  of  slaveiy  cannot  fail  to  add  immense- 
ly and  directly  to  our  national  revenue.  A  slave  paid  no  taxes, 
directly  ;  and  indirectly  but  little  more  than  a  horse  or  a  cow. 
His  two  annual  suits  of  linsey-woolsey,  and  his  weekly  peck  of 
corn  meal  and  a  few  pounds  of  bacon,  contributed  little  to  na- 


35 

tional  revenue,  and  he  had  no  wages  to  spend  ;  but  as  freed 
men,  they  become  at  once  consumers  of  taxed  articles.  Tliis 
is  strikingly  shown  in  the  last  year's  (1863)  history  of  the  colonies 
of  freed  blacks  upon  the  sea  islands  of  South  CcWolina.  In 
these  colonies,  nearly  every  woman  has  provided  herself  with 
a  silk  dress  and  a  pair  of  gold  ear  rings  out  of  the  product  of 
their  earnings — a  thing  remarkable  in  itself,  inasmuch  as  many 
of  the  purchasers,  as  slaves,  had  never,  in  the  whole  course  of 
their  lives,  been  the  possessors  of  a  single  dollar  ;  while  upon 
one  of  the  smaller  islands,  a  colony  of  a  few  hundred  emancipa- 
ted slaves  are  reported  to  have  bought  and  paid  for  domestic 
goods,  in  a  twelvemonth,  to  the  value  of  over  $20,000.  "  Our 
•Southern  trade" — though  so  valuable  in  former  years — will, 
therefore,  when  peace  is  restored,  by  the  recognition  of  federal 
authority,  be  undoubtedly  a  hundred  times  more  extensive  and 
profitable  than  it  has  ever  been.  Foui*  millions  of  consumers, 
not  only  of  necessaries,  but  of  luxuries,  will  be  at  once  added  to 
the  tax-paying  population.  ''Also  by  freeing  the  slaves,  white 
labor  will  be  relieved  of  a  ruinous  competition,  and  will  reap  a 
1/xrge  reward  in  that  vast  territory  from  which  it  has  been  for 
years  almost  entirely  shut  out.  This  will  add  still  more  largely 
to  the  consumption,  as  well  as  to  the  internal  commerce  and 
revenue  of  the  country."-' 

Finally,  in  estimating  the  future  resources  of  the  countiy,  and 
its  capacity  to  carry  a  large  burden  of  debt  and  taxatioi\,  it 

*  "The  Philadelphia"  (Free#nen's  Aid)  "Society  has  a  store  on  St.  Helena 
Island.  In  this  store  alone — and  there  are  others  on  the  island  carried  on  by  pri- 
vate enterprise  —  two  thousand  dollars'  woiih  of  goods  are  sold  monthly.  There 
is  a  great  demand  for  plates,  knives,  forks,  tinware,  and  better  clothing,  including 
even  hooped  skirts.  Negi'O  cloth,  as  it  is  called,  otmaburgs,  russet-colored  shoes, 
in  short,  the  distinctive  apparel  formerly  dealt  out  to  them,  are  very  generally 
rejected.  But  there  is  no  article  of  household  furniture  or  wearing  apparel  used 
bj'  persons  of  moderate  means  which  they  will  not  purchase,  when  they  are  al- 
lowed the  opjortunity  of  labor  and  earning  wages.  What  a  market  the  South 
would  open  i"der  the  new  system !  It  would  set  all  the  mills  and  workshojjs 
astir.  Four  millions  of  people  would  become  purchasers  of  all  the  variolas  articles 
of  manufactiire  and  commerce,  in  place  of  the  few  coarse,  simple  necessaries  laid 
in  for  them  in  gross  by  the  planters.  When  these  people  can  no  longer  be  u.sed 
as  slaves,  men  will  try  to  .see  how  they  can  make  the  most  of  them  as  free- 
men. Your  Irishman  honestly  thinks  he  hates  the  negro ;  but,  when  the  war  is 
over,  he  will  have  no  objection  to  going  South  and  selling  him  groceries  and 


36 

should  not  be  overlooked  that  the  opportunity  for  a  civilized 
nation  to  increase  its  aggregate  wealth  was  never  before,  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  so  great  as  at  present,  and  therefore  no 
former  precedents  respecting  the  actual  burden  of  a  great  debt 
upon  a  nation  can  be  fairly  quoted  as  applicable  to  the  present. 
This  is  due  mainly  to  two  circumstances  :  1st,  The  accumulation 
of  national  capital  :  and  2d,  to  the  introduction  of  labor-saving 
machinery. 

In  relation  to  the  first,  it  is  simply  necessary  to  direct  the 
attention  of  the  reader  to  the  fact  that  ivealth  makes  wealth  :  or, 
in  other  words,  that  resources  and  capital  accumulated,  and  prop- 
erly used,  invariably  bring  large  additional  resources  and  capital. 
The  man  that  had  ten  talents  could  produce  more  easily  ten 
additional  talents,  than  he  who  had  one  could  produce  a  single 
additional  one  ;  and  so  in  regard  to  this  country,  or  the  loyal 
part  of  it.  With  a  capital  in  1860  more  than  double  what  it 
possessed  in  1850,  its  capacity  and  power  to  increase  its  wealth  in 
1860  was  of  necessity  more  than  double  what  it  could  have  been 
in  1850. 

2d.  The  opportunity  or  power  of  a  country  to  increase  its 
national  wealth  or  capital  is  greatly  augmented  by  the  intro- 
duction of  labor-saving  machinery.  A  single  statistical  fact  il- 
lustrates this  proi)osition  better  than  volumes  of  assertion.  It 
was  shown  by  official  statistics  in  Great  Britain,  some  years 
since,  that  if  the  stage-coach  system^  which  was  the  main  reli- 
ance of  that  country  in  1830  for  the  transportation  of  travellers, 
had  continued  in  use  up  to  1854.  and  had  then  been  required  to 
do  the  work  of  passenger  transportatiim  alone,  which  the  rail- 
way system  of  that   year   effected,    the   increased   cost   of  the 


household  implomonts  at  fifty  per  cent,  advance  on  New  York  prices. — Ailanixc 
Monthly,  September,  1863. 

Let  us  also,  in  this  connection,  glance  at  the  effects  of  emanc^ation  on  the 
trade  and  industry  of  the  British  "West  India  Islands.  Emancipation  took  place  in 
Bntish  Guiana,  ]5arbadoes,  Trinidad,  and  Anti^'ua,  in  1K.'?0.  The  average  value  of 
the  annual  export  of  sugar  from  these  islands,  for  1>S27  to  1830,  was  $8, 840, 000. 
The  average  annual  value,  from  1851  to  1860,  was  »14, 000,000.  Land  in  Barbadoes 
has  do)ibled  in  value  since  emancipation.  Under  slavery,  the  value  of  American 
imports  to  I'arbadoes  did  not  average  more  than  £60,000  per  annum  ;  at  present 
it  is  from  X:JOO,000  to  £400,000  annually. 


37 

business  would  have  been  £40,000,000  ($200,000,000)  per  an- 
num more  than  the  whole  cost  of  the  railway  passenger  and 
freight  conveyance  of  the  same  year  ;  or,  in  other  words,  the 
introduction  and  use  of  railways  in  Great  Britain  added  to  the 
productive  capital  of  the  country  for  the  year  1854  the  sum  ot 
$200,000,000,  ''  an  amount,"  as  Kobert  Stevenson  expressed  it, 
"  exceeding  by  50  per  cent,  the  yearly  interest  of  the  (British) 
national  debt." 

With  such  a  return  from  a  single  department  of  improved 
industry,  who  can  estimate  the  yearly  addition  to  the  wealth 
and  capital  of  a  country  like  ours,  where  the  invention  and  intro- 
duction of  labor-saving  machinery  is  universally  regarded  as  a 
leading  and  peculiar  feature  of  its  civilization  and  history  ? 

The  census  of  1860  returned  the  population  of  Massachusetts 
as  1,230,000  ;  yet  how  inadequately  the  mere  enumeration  of 
the  number  of  individuals  composing  a  State  like  this  expresses 
its  power  and  resources  is  evident,  when  we  remember  that,  in 
1860,  the  machinery  of  Massachusetts  was  returned  as  capable 
of  doing  the  work  of  more  than  a  hundred  millions  of  men.  Now, 
such  an  addition  to  the  productive  capacity  of  a  State  fifty 
years  ago,  was  not  possible,  inasmuch  as  a  great  part  of  the 
machinery  and  appliances  by  which  it  had  been  evoked  were 
not  then  in  existence  ;  and  if  we  are  not  warranted  in  predicating 
of  the  next  fifty  years  an  equal  progress  in  improvement,  we 
think  we  are  justified  in  believing  that  a  nearly  equal  gain  in 
resources  will  accrue  to  the  whole  country  from  the  more  exten- 
sive introduction  and  use  of  the  labor-saving  inventions  and  pro- 
cesses already  in  existence.  We  Avould  also  call  the  attention  of 
our  readers,  in  this  connection,  to  the  very  interesting  circum- 
stance, that  war  and  the  embarrassed  condition  of  ou)'  finances, 
so  far  from  restricting  the  inventive  genius  of  the  country  and 
retarding  the  introduction  of  improvements,  has  acted  rather  as  a 
stimulant.  This  is  proved  by  the  increased  number  of  patents 
issued  during  the  last  three  years  {i.  e.,  1861,  2,581  ;  1862, 
3,522  ;  1863,  4,170)  ;  and  also  by  the  fact  that,  notwithstanding 
the  great  draft  of  men  from  the  agricultural  States  to  the  ranks 


38 

of  the  army,  tlie  harvests,   through  the  more  extensive  use  ot 
machinery,  have  rathered  increased  than  diminished.* 

We  have  thus  endeavored  to  present  an  accurate  and  popular, 
but  by  no  means  complete,  exhibit  of  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  our  countiy  during  the  past ;  and  its  present  financial  and 
industrial  strength  ;  and,  guided  by  the  experience  of  former 
years,  have  sought  to  forecast  and  estimate,  in  a  degree,  its  in- 
crease in  the  future.  Fear,  however,  of  extending  this  essay  to 
an  inordinate  length,  has  induced  us  to  refrain  from  the  mention 
of  various  topics  of  nearly  equal  interest  to  those  presented — 
such  as  the  wonderful  increase  of  our  tonnage  (temporarily  in- 
terrupted in  its  growth  by  the  existence  of  war  and  legalized 
piracy) ;  of  the  increased  value  given  to  land  by  the  extension 
of  our  railway  system  ;  of  the  addition  to  our  agricultural  re- 
sources of  new  staples  for  culture,  as  the  sorghum, f  and  the 
like.  But  enough,  we  think,  has  been  said  ;  enough  of  statistics 
(which  no  partisan  zeal  can  wrest  from  their  true  meaning)  have 
been  given,  to  satisfy  our  readers  that  the  country  cannot  be 
destroyed,  or  even  crippled,  by  any  probable  future  debt  ;  and  to 
induce  every  loyal  man,  as  he  reflects  upon  our  resources  as  a 
nation,  to  "  Thank  God  and  take  courage." 

*  An  interesting  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  American  industry  is  ena- 
bled, through  the  machinery  it  invents,  to  compete  \vith  and  distance  the  cheap- 
est known  labor  of  the  world,  is  to  be  found  in  the  machine  recently  invented  for 
spUtting  cane  (rattan)  used  for  the  manufacture  of  "cane-seat"  chairs.  The 
strips  of  cane  used  for  this  purpose  are  derived  from  the  outer  and  "glassy"  layer 
of  the  "  East  India  rattan"  ;  and  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  the  low  price  of 
Chinese  labor  (some  few  cents  per  day),  they  have  iisually  been  split  or  peeled 
from  the  mttan  before  exportation.  Within  a  comjjaratively  recent  period,  how- 
ever, a  machine  has  been  invented  in  this  country,  and  successfully  used,  which, 
at  one  operation,  takes  off  the  whole  outer  portion  of  the  rattan  in  strips,  so  much 
more  rapidly,  cheaply,  and  perfectly,  as  to  forbid  all  competition  from  the  China- 
man ;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  leaves  the  interior  of  the  rattan  so  well  adapted  for 
conversion  into  "  artificial  whalebone"  for  the  manufacture  of  iimbrella-frames, 
that  the  latter  possesses  a  value,  and  sells  in  the  market  for  as  much  as  the  first 
cost  of  the  original  cane  as  imported.  We  might  also  refer,  as  an  example  of  re- 
cent American  inventions,  which  have  swept  away,  as  it  were,  at  one  stroke,  en- 
tire and  ancient  crafts  of  hand-labor,  to  the  American  cork-cutting  machine,  which 
cuts  in  one  hour  more  and  more  perfect  corks  than  ten  cxjiert  workmen  can  cut 
in  a  day  ;  and  of  inventions  more  particularly  induced  by  the  exigencies  of  the 
times,  to  that  of  "  paper  string"  or  "  twine,"  so  much  cheaper  and  stronger  than 
ordinary  "  cotton  twine,"  that  the  use  of  this  latter  will  undoubtedly  be  hereafter, 
in  a  great  degree,  discontinued. 

t  ( )f  sorghum  molasses,  which  was  not  known  to  this  country  in  1850,  there  was 
manufactured,  in  1860,  over  seoen  vdllions  of  (jallons. 


39 

But  some  may  say,  after  reading  this  essay,  "  Atlmitting  all 
that  has  been  stated  respecting  the  history  of  tlie  past  ;  admit- 
ting, also,  that  all  the  conditions  for  a  future  enormous  increase 
and  development  of  national  wealth  actually  exist  ;  yet,  will  not 
the  necessity  for  the  im[)osition  of  a  future  heavy  taxation  efifect- 
ually  cripple  and  check  the  industry  and  progress  of  the  n;ition?" 
To  this  we  reply,  that  the  history  of  Great  Britain  furnishes  us 
with  a  sufficient  answer  and  refutation. 

Thus,  in  181G,  Great  Britain,  with  a  population  of  19,275,000^ 
without  one  mile  of  railway,  or  a  single  ocean  steamer,  with 
comparatively  few  labor-saving  machines,  and  with  onerous  (and 
now  obsolete)  restrictions  upon  her  industry,  carried  and  sus- 
tained the  maximum  debt  of  her  history,  viz.  :  $4,205,000,000  ; 
and  not  only  lias  Great  Britain  carried  and  sustained  this  enor- 
mous debt  for  the  last  forty-eight  years  (during  which  time  she 
has  almost  constantly  been  engaged  in  war  in  some  quarter  of 
the  globe)  but  she  has  so  greatly  thriven  and  prospered  under  it, 
that  she  now  ranks^r.s^  in  wealth,  and^rs^  in  industrial  power  of 
all  the  nations  that  at  present  exist,  or  have  ever  existed.  Shall 
the  loyal  States  in  1864  (to  say  nothing  of  the  whole  countiy), 
with  a  present  advantage  of  30  per  cent,  in  population,  33  per 
cent,  in  property,  and  more  than  100  per  cent,  in  the  value  of 
annual  ])roduction — with  a  virgin  soil,  enormous  emigration,  a 
system  of  land  tenure  which  conduces  to  the  highest  prosperity 
of  the  greatest  number,  and  a  condition  of  society  in  which  indi- 
vidual enterprise  is  encouraged  and  fostered — shall  the  loyal 
States,  we  ask,  with  all  these  advantages,  sink  under  a  burden 
of  debt  less  than  two  thirds  that  which  Great  Britain  sustained 
in  1816  ? 


UC  SOUTHtRN  RtGIONAL  LIBRARy  FACILITY 


